Carlos Santana homers to help the Guardians top the White Sox 4-2 in doubleheader opener

CHICAGO (AP) — Carlos Santana hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 4-2 on Friday in the opener of a split doubleheader.

Angel Martínez and Daniel Schneemann also connected for Cleveland in its fourth consecutive victory. Logan Allen (6-7) pitched six innings of one-hit ball.

With two out and a runner on first, Santana hit a 418-foot drive to center off Tyler Alexander (4-9) for his 11th homer this season. The 39-year-old first baseman went 1 for 19 in his previous five games.

Luis Robert Jr. homered for Chicago, which finished with two hits in its fourth loss in five games.

The doubleheader was scheduled after Thursday night’s game was postponed because of rain.

Cleveland jumped in front when Schneemann and Martínez hit back-to-back homers off All-Star Shane Smith in the second. Martínez went deep for the third consecutive game, giving him eight on the year.

Chicago tied it at 2 in the bottom half. Mike Tauchman reached on a one-out walk before Robert drilled his ninth homer, a 378-foot drive to left with an exit velocity of 111.1 mph.

Cleveland retired 19 consecutive batters after Robert went deep. Colson Montgomery broke up the string with a two-out walk against Hunter Gaddis in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Andrew Benintendi flied out to the warning track in the corner in right.

Emmanuel Clase handled the ninth for his 20th save in 24 chances.

Key moment

Edgar Quero bounced to second for the final out of the game, stranding a runner on second.

Key stat

It was Allen’s first win since June 18. He went 0-3 with a 3.57 ERA in his previous three starts.

Up next

Gavin Williams (5-4, 3.61 ERA) starts for Cleveland in the second game, and fellow right-hander Jonathan Cannon (3-7, 4.50 ERA) goes for Chicago.

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