Burger, Sheets unleash as White Sox bats stay hot

CHICAGO -- Jake Burger and Gavin Sheets both homered for a second straight night.

And for the second straight night, the White Sox toppled the Guardians, with a 7-2 victory Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field, moving Chicago (16-28) within eight games of Minnesota at the top of the American League Central. For the first time in his big league career, though, Sheets was ejected.

So, the anger exhibited by the usually upbeat and laid-back right fielder after he was called out on strikes by home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna on 2-2 pitch to end the seventh became a brief postgame focal point.

“Yeah. It was just a buildup of things,” Sheets said. “They have an extremely difficult job, but I have to protect myself, too. And the last two nights, it just built up.”

Burger’s locker is located next to Sheets’, so the two listened in and laughed at each other as they met the media. Burger, who has 10 homers on the season, actually homered for a third straight game when he connected off Peyton Battenfield (0-5) in the fourth.

But of course Burger wanted to talk about his triple in the eighth, leaving him a double short of the cycle on this three-hit night. Burger does rank third on the team in average sprint speed behind Romy González and Luis Robert Jr., according to Statcast.

“I’ve heard, trust me, I’ve heard all about it,” Sheets said of Burger's speed. “He loves talking about it. No, he can move a little bit.”

“As long as I’m faster than Sheets,” said Burger with a broad smile. “I know I’m faster than [Andrew] Vaughn.”

Vaughn also homered during a three-run fourth to take the series from a depleted and struggling crew from Cleveland (19-23). The offensive support made a winner of Mike Clevinger (3-3), who allowed two runs on six hits over six innings with five strikeouts and four walks against his former team.

“It’s always fun seeing [Cleveland manager] Tito [Francona] and those boys over there. It’s a whole different team, other than [Shane] Bieber,” Clevinger said. “Memories there to last a lifetime, World Series in 2016 to all the way up to 2020, it was an amazing experience. It’s good to see them. Obviously a little extra edge to compete.”

“Clevinger did a really good job,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “He was in crisis probably five out of seven times. Pitched out of four. He made pitches when he really had to make some pitches.”

Making those tough pitches is a little easier to do when support with the bats is in abundance behind you. The White Sox have homered in 14 of their last 16 games since April 30, and their 24 home runs in that time span are tied for third-most in the American League.

They hit three-plus homers in back-to-back games for the first time since Aug. 8-9, 2021. Remember, Burger is hitting eighth in this lineup, meaning it is very deep when healthy.

“Hitting is contagious, you know,” Burger said. “All the guys are piecing good at-bats together and making solid contact. I think it just keeps rolling. One through nine, there could be damage done. The starting pitcher has to dial it up for all nine. It’s really exciting and really fun.”

“We’re swinging the bats really well,” Sheets said. “With Burger hitting eighth and hitting the ball the way he’s doing it shows how deep we are. We’re starting to drive the baseball the way this lineup is capable of doing it, and it’s pretty special.”

Jake Marisnick was getting ready to replace Sheets defensively after his final at-bat, which Sheets smiled and said he knew, but it had nothing to do with his ejection. According to Statcast, the 2-2 pitch he was called out on was below the zone and the 1-0 pitch called a strike was missed as well.

There might be another reason for Sheets’ anger, though. It has to do with Burger, his friend, and the White Sox top pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, with Sheets selected in the second round.

“I’ve seen it a couple of times, especially today I was late for our I-pitch session,” said Burger with a laugh when asked if he ever has viewed Sheets as angry as he was Wednesday. “He got on me a little bit. Maybe that anger spilled out onto the field, I’m not sure.”