Petey Halpin vindicates Guardians' bold lineup decision, erases Tommy Pham storyline

At some point on Tuesday night, White Sox outfielder Tommy Pham walked into an elevator with White Sox general manager Chris Getz and successfully convinced him to activate Pham off the injured list. 

Ironically, the Guardians' win over the White Sox on Wednesday also resembled an elevator ride. 

It went all the way to the basement when Pham mashed a go-ahead home run against Parker Messick in the fifth inning for his first hit of the season. 

But it rose back to the top floor an inning later when Petey Halpin answered with a go-ahead, three-run home run that pushed the Guardians to an 6-3 win that moved them to the front of the line in the American League Central. 

Before Halpin hit his homer, it looked like Pham’s homer was going to be the game’s big story. Not only did his homer come in his first game back from the injured list, but it came after he personally lobbied to come back (while throwing the team’s training staff under the bus in his mid-game interview with ESPN). 

Even if a White Sox win would have increased their lead in the division to just 1 1/2 games, Pham’s home run serving as the killshot would have lived on in White Sox lore for years. 

Instead it’s just a footnote on a Guardians win that gave them their first division lead since July. 

Petey Halpin was the latest Guardian to play hero in win over White Sox

Although Halpin’s home run came out of nowhere, the rest of Cleveland’s win was built by familiar names. Messick went six innings and recorded eight strikeouts while only making one mistake (Pham’s home run). José Ramírez broke out of his September slump with two doubles. Cade Smith picked up a four-out save. 

The Guardians needed a big game from the big names on their roster, and they answered a day after Brayan Rocchio played hero. 

But the biggest moment of Wednesday’s game came in the form of Halpin’s two-out, three-run homer off Sean Newcomb. Halpin entered the game with a .552 OPS with two home runs in 73 games. 

Rookie Hagan Smith started the inning after pitching a scoreless fifth inning, but he got pulled after allowing walks to David Fry and Austin Hedges. White Sox manager turned to Newcomb for the lefty-lefty matchup against Halpin, but he won the battle. 

That win gives the Guardians a week-and-a-half to hold onto their slim lead in the division. 

The White Sox get their first chance to reclaim it tomorrow via their series opener against the Tigers which will even the two teams up in the ‘games played’ department. 

If the White Sox win they’ll hold the division lead by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker. If they lose, the Guardians will enter the final 10 days of the series with a one-game lead over Chicago. 

But the most important is that the Guardians are going to wake up tomorrow leading the American League Central. It may not have been a smooth journey, but that’s all you can ask for at this point of the season.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow