David Murphy and Nick Swisher homer, Indians beat White Sox, climb back to .500

Game 92:

Box Score

Tribe improves to 46-46

Corey Kluber finished his great first half with a mediocre outing, but he bent more than he broke, limiting damage that often seemed like it was on the verge of getting far worse by stranding six base runners and getting through 6 innings with 4 runs allowed on 8 hits, along with 2 walks and a hit batter. Like I said, it was not his best night, but the game never got out of hand; in fact, every time the White Sox scored, the Tribe immediately got the runs back.

In the 2nd inning it was a home run by David Murphy, his first since May 21, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 tie.

In the 4th inning it was a based-loaded walk by Chris Dickerson that tied the game back up. That was the Tribe's third walk of the inning, and with the bases still loaded they had a chance to pull ahead, but Jason Kipnis grounded out.

In the 5th inning, after falling behind again, it seemed like things would stay that way, as Asdrubal Cabrera was thrown out trying to steal second base with two outs. Asdrubal immediately insisted he'd been safe, and Terry Francona came out to challenge the call. Replay overturned the original ruling, keeping the inning going for Lonnie Chisenhall, who promptly knocked a single into center field, tying the game again.

Next came the much maligned Nick Swisher (who extended his hitting streak to 7 games earlier in the night), who drove the ball over the wall in center and put the Tribe ahead for the first time all night. It was his third home run of the week, matching his total from the previous two months.

Carlos Santana capped the scoring with a 7th-inning double that plated Michael Brantley.

It was an awesome night for the bullpen. John Axford pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning, Bryan Shaw pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning, and Cody Allen pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning (getting three swinging strikeouts) for his 11th save of the season.

The win pushes the Tribe's record to 46-46, meaning they're back at .500 for the first time in three weeks. As of this writing, the Indians are only 3 games behind the second Wild Card spot. With 70 games to go, there's a lot of baseball left, and we might still have a contender on our hands.

Win Expectancy Chart:

Source: FanGraphs

Roll Call:

Game Thread

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Total commenters: 16

I guess everyone was over at Fear the Sword all night.