Yasmani Grandal and Eloy Jimenez hit sacrifice flies and the Chicago White Sox, who couldn’t do anything against Zach Plesac for eight innings, scored four runs in the ninth — three charged to ineffective Cleveland closer Brad Hand — to beat the Indians 4-0 on Wednesday night.
The Indians got eight terrific innings from Plesac, their No. 5 starter who truck out a career-high 11, shut out the White Sox on three hits and continued a strong run of Cleveland pitching to start the season.
The Indians have opened the season with six consecutive starters pitching at least six innings while allowing two runs or fewer. The last team to do that was the 1993 Atlanta Braves, whose staff included Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine.
Before the game, the Indians placed Gold Glove catcher Roberto Perez on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder injury. He got hurt in the season opener making an off-balance throw to first.
Shane Bieber, who has added a cutter to his repertoire, starts the opener of a three-game series against the AL Central champion Minnesota Twins. Bieber struck out 14 Kansas City Royals in his opening-day start, the most Ks in an opener since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson’s 14 in 1996. Jose Berrios starts for Minnesota.