CLEVELAND -- Trevor Bauer tweeted a playful message to Tim Anderson earlier Monday. Anderson replied in kind, then chased the All-Star pitcher after his worst start this season.
Anderson hit a two-run single in the sixth inning that ended Bauer's evening as the Chicago White Sox routed the Cleveland Indians 9-1 Monday night and stopped a three-game losing streak. Yoan Moncada also had a two-run homer and four RBIs off the right-hander.
Bauer (4-2) matched his career highs by allowing eight runs and seven earned runs in five-plus innings, raising his ERA from 2.45 to 3.42. Chicago ended his streak of starts allowing four earned runs or fewer at 60, the second-longest run since 1970 behind Greg Maddux's 106 from 1991 to 1994.
"This was one of those nights where everything went their way," Bauer said. "They hit some really bad pitches really hard, and they hit some really good pitches really hard. And then, even balls they miss-hit were hits. Just one of those nights, I guess."
Before the game, Bauer reached out to Anderson on Twitter, writing:
Hey @TimAnderson7 I'm all in on the bat flips man but if you could skip a day today that would be great. Even the lord took a day of rest. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 thanks my dude
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) May 6, 2019
Anderson flipped his bat after homering against Kansas City on April 17. Brad Keller hit him with a pitch in his next at-bat, prompting benches to clear.
"I don't know him, but what I do know is I hope that we don't see a ton of that bat-flipping these next four days," Indians manager Terry Francona said.
There was no bat-flipping after Moncada homered in the first and James McCann hit a solo shot in the fourth. Leury Garcia had three singles in three at-bats against Bauer, and Anderson had two hits and is batting .339 with an MLB-leading 12 stolen bases.
"He's got such good stuff and so many weapons, you don't want to get to two strikes," McCann said. "The plan was getting our pitch and not miss it, and not allow ourselves to get into two-strike counts that he wants to."
Ivan Nova (1-3) went seven innings, allowing one run and eight hits, for his first win with the White Sox. He was 0-3 in eight starts since his last win on Sept. 21 with Pittsburgh against Milwaukee.