CLEVELAND — They’re all must wins at this point but the White Sox’ 8-2 win over the Guardians Thursday was a really, really must win.
Lose and fall five games behind the first place Guardians in the American League Central with 18 to go. Lose and watch the Guardians run their win streak to seven games behind a rookie making his second career start.
Lose and maybe start making offseason plans. As it was the Sox had a 12.7% chance of winning the division before the game, per FanGraphs.
They still might not have enough time left to cut down Cleveland, but belting five home runs in the first five innings against right-hander Hunter Gaddis let the Guardians know the Sox, who won for the 11th time in 15 games, weren’t going away on a perfect weather afternoon.
“It was a big one,” acting manager Miguel Cairo said. “You see this is who we are. We got good at-bats, we were aggressive and we hit a couple of homers. It’s good to see the guys come back from [a 3-0 home loss to the Rockies] yesterday and put some big numbers up there.”
Gavin Sheets, Andrew Vaughn, Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal and Elvis Andrus went deep for the Sox (74-70), who trail Cleveland (76-66) by four in the loss column.
“I think it was a must win,” said Sheets, who hit his 13th homer but first on the road to get things started. “Every game is a must win, but obviously against them even better. We wanted to come out and swing the bats early and give Lance [Lynn] the lead and Lance threw the ball extremely well.”
The Sox’ September power surge continued. They have hit 28 home runs in their last 16 games, and the five homers against one pitcher tied a Cleveland record, most recently set against Luis Tiant against Boston in 1969.
Sheets hit hit a two-run homer in the second inning, Vaughn homered after Sheets with his team-high 16th, Moncada homered in the third, Grandal in the fourth and Andrus in the fifth.
Moncada had four hits, including a double, and Jose Abreu had three hits including a double. Abreu drove in two runs and raised his average to .313.
“We have to keep focused and keep the momentum going,” Moncada, his right leg wrapped below the knee because of shin splints. “That’s going to be important.”
The Sox still have work to do to catch the Guardians, who are up by four in the loss column. The teams play three games next week at Guaranteed Rate Field, and one victory for the Guardians clinches the season series and division title tiebreaker. They were fortunate to get Gaddis because the Guardians moved expected starter Tristan McKenzie to the weekend to avoid using three straight rookie starters against the third-place Twins.
“I’m going to tell you, it don’t matter who is on the mound, our guys they have been preparing,” Cairo said. “They’ve been doing their homework and they are ready to play. That’s something that they have been doing every day and they are going to continue.”
Lynn pitched 61⁄3 innings of two-run ball for Sox. He struck out six, walked one, allowed six hits and lowered his ERA to 3.99. Lynn owns a 1.43 ERA in his last seven starts.
The game was a makeup of an Aug. 21 rainout. The Sox flew in after Wednesday’s loss to the Rockies at home and made a flight after the game for Detroit, where they play three games in which they’ll be favored.
It figured to be a short but happy flight for Detroit. As everyone agreed, it was not a game the Sox could afford to lose.
“No,” Lynn said, succinctly telling it like it was.
