Hunter Gaddis pitches six shutout innings in 3-0 win over White Sox

The last time he faced the Chicago White Sox, Hunter Gaddis surrendered seven earned runs, including five home runs, over four innings of a spot start in September a season ago.

He was able to achieve a measure of revenge Monday night, limiting the White Sox to two hits and one walk over six scoreless innings to lead the Cleveland Guardians to a 3-0 victory.

Gaddis simply had the White Sox’s number, giving up nothing but weak contact. The hardest contact he allowed all night was a 99.6 mph lineout by Tim Anderson in the first inning.

He was able to pitch with a lead for most of the game thanks to Gabriel Arias, who has now reached base in five consecutive games. He drew a leadoff walk in the second inning before Will Brennan followed with an opposite field single that killed a bird.

See for yourself:

After the grounds crew had removed the unfortunate casualty of Brennan’s single, the Guardians attempted a double steal that put Arias at third base with two outs after Brennan was thrown out at second. A passed ball allowed Arias to score and give Cleveland a 1-0 lead.

The Guardians didn’t seem to have much interest in adding to that lead until the seventh inning, when Arias once again found himself in scoring position after drawing a walk. With two outs and Mike Zunino coming to the plate, Chicago manager Pedro Grifol opted to remove southpaw Garrett Crochet in favor of right-hander Gregory Santos. Zunino proceeded to slug his first home run since April 28, a two-run shot to extend the Guardians’ lead to 3-0.

The 3-0 advantage afforded more breathing room for Cleveland’s beleaguered bullpen.

Sam Hentges, looking to rebound from a disastrous relief appearance against the Mets on Friday, got the first call from the bullpen in the seventh inning. Oddly enough, he relied almost exclusively on his curveball, which accounted for 18 of his 22 pitches in the inning. The results were mixed, as Hentges sandwiched a walk and a single between a pair of strikeouts before giving way to Nick Sandlin to retire Jake Burger for the final out of the inning.

Trevor Stephan and Emmanuel Clase both pitched 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and ninth.