The Cleveland Guardians chose a very convenient time to finally earn their first win of the week, beating the AL Central leaders, the Chicago White Sox, 8-2 at Rate Field. Parker Messick was magnificent on the mound and earned his ninth victory of the year, while Angel Martinez was the offensive MVP of the night with a grand slam and six RBI.
The 58-59 Guardians have now trimmed the White Sox’s lead in the AL Central to just two games, with two more to play in Chicago this weekend. It’s a perfect opportunity for them to tie them at the top of the division or at least get much closer.
South Side smackdown.#GuardsBall | #GuardiWins pic.twitter.com/UpYoNvxv5f
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) August 8, 2026
Messick surrendered a couple of solo homers to Colson Montgomery and Munetaka Murakami, but was otherwise surgical on Friday’s opener, completing seven strong innings of two runs, four hits, and a walk. He struck out eight and dropped his season ERA to a beautiful 2.57.
Steven Kwan, who reached 23 straight games getting on base, got the party started in the opening frame against Noah Schultz with a single. After Chase DeLauter struck out, Jose Ramirez contributed a knock of his own to put runners in the corners.
J-Ram then stole second, setting the scene for Martinez to hit a two-run single that made things 2-0. After this play, the White Sox had to change pitchers because manager Will Venable came out one batter after pitching coach Zach Bove did in one of the most bizarre occurrences of the season.
Chicago cut the deficit to one with Montgomery’s solo shot against Messick in the second frame. White Sox’s reliever David Sandlin actually did a fine job keeping his team in the game until the fifth inning, when the Guardians broke loose.
Martinez hit a grand slam in that productive fifth frame, and the Guardians’ lead went from 2-1 to a much more comfortable 6-1. It was his 12th long ball of the year, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Austin Hedges singled in Rhys Hoskins later in the inning to extend the lead to 7-1.
Angel MartÃnez GRAND SLAM! pic.twitter.com/tLJlLWFR8k
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2026
It was 8-1 at the top of the sixth after the red-hot Kwan hit his second dinger of the year, a solo shot to right field. Chicago scored its second run of the night in the bottom part of the inning thanks to Murakami’s solo blast.
Franco Aleman completed the game with two scoreless innings in relief, but loaded the bases in the ninth and made things messier than they needed to be. He struck out four and threw 44 pitches, allowing four hits and walking one.
Martinez paced the offense with his grand slam, two hits, and six RBI, but Kwan also came through, going 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs, and an RBI. DeLauter also racked up a couple of hits, and Ramirez scored twice and stole a base.
The series will continue on Saturday at 7:15 pm ET, with Gavin Williams facing Anthony Kay.
NEXT: Steven Kwan Is In The Midst Of His Hottest Stretch This Season
