Guardians walk off White Sox for second straight night, move back into first place

CLEVELAND — On the last pitch prior to a 1-hour, 55-minute rain delay in the fifth inning Friday night at Progressive Field, Gavin Williams allowed a go-ahead, three-run homer to Chicago's Miguel Vargas. The Guardians had the White Sox right where they wanted them. For the second straight day, Cleveland walked off Chicago, getting a single from rookie Kahlil Watson in the 10th inning to win 4-3 and clinch at least a split in a significant four-game series between the top two teams in the Central Division. It was the first walk-off hit of Watson's career. "It's just a special moment, the first walk-off of my career," he said. "I mean, dude, it's unbelievable. I really want to relive that again." "No moment, no scene, seems to be too much for him," manager Stephen Vogt said of Watson, who was playing in the 15th game of his career. "It's been really fun to see. That was a real cool moment for him. Obviously, a huge win — rain delay, come from behind, it was a great job by our guys." The Guardians pulled into first place a game ahead of the White Sox and lead the season series 3-2 after losing two of three in Chicago on June 22-24. Each game has been decided by a run, including two 10-inning games won by Cleveland. It looked as though Williams was on his way to a quality start after shutting out Chicago on two hits and striking out six over the first four innings. But the fifth began with back-to-back singles from Chase Meidroth and Tristan Peters two batters before Vargas' 20th homer. Williams was ahead 0-2 with two outs but couldn't finish off Vargas, who worked the count full and fouled off four pitches before hammering a 3-2 sweeper onto the Home Run Porch in left field to cap a 10-pitch at-bat. "He's a good hitter. He's worked plenty of at-bats off me the last two series," Williams said of Chicago's third baseman. "I think he's seen about everything I can throw at him. He got the pitch he was looking for. I left it a little bit up in the zone and I wish I didn't do that." "The pitch count was there for him to go deep, one pitch away from getting Vargas," Vogt said. "I'm glad we came back to get that one for him." Cleveland had one hit through the first four innings off left-hander Anthony Kay, who walked Gabriel Arias and Austin Hedges to start the third before Travis Bazzana delivered an RBI single with one out. David Fry killed the rally by hitting into an inning-ending double play. Thursday's hero Brayan Rocchio started the bottom of the fifth with a single to center but Arias, Hedges and Steven Kwan struck out against right-hander Jordan Hicks. Of the first seven Cleveland batters following the delay, five struck out. But the Guardians started making contact in the game-tying sixth inning after two of the first three batters — Rhys Hoskins and Rocchio — walked. Hedges pulled Cleveland within a run on a sharp groundball single that shortstop Colton Montgomery was unable to handle. Kwan followed with a liner to left to tie the game at 3. "Our guys are really starting to string some good ABs together," Vogt said. "It took them a little bit of time to find some rhythm as a group but it seems like they're really starting to find that." Erik Sabrowski retired all three batters he faced — two strikeouts — to keep Chicago's ghost runner at second and pave the way for the heroics in the 10th. Sabrowski was one of five relievers who shut out Chicago on one hit over the final 5 1/3 innings. "It turned into a full blown bullpen game for sure on both sides," Vogt said. "Their bullpen was good, our bullpen was unbelievable, one guy after guy, just incredible — quick outs. "You can map out every game that you want to but it very rarely goes the way you map it out." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.