Indians sweep White Sox
4/18/2010CLEVELAND — Shin-Soo Choo is taking the Cleveland Indians on quite the ride.
Choo hit a grand slam and drove in five runs Sunday to lead Cleveland to a 7-4 win over the Chicago White Sox. He finished 2 for 3 with a walk, staking the Indians to a 7-0 lead when he went deep with the bases loaded off Gavin Floyd (0-2).
It was his second career slam, his first coming against Boston's Josh Beckett in 2006.
Choo was just 2 for 18 with nine strikeouts in his first five games, but has hit .545 with four homers and 12 RBIs since then.
“Choo is more patient at the plate,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “When he's like that he's a one-man wreck[ing] crew. He was too anxious, trying to do too much.”
Choo said he has calmed down after a chat with a friend.
“He said, ‘Choo, you have a nice car and don't worry about the tires or engine, right? It is the same with you. You have the talent so don't worry and just go drive the baseball.' That's what I try to do,” Choo said.
Fausto Carmona (2-0) gave up three runs over six innings as the Indians completed their first three-game home sweep of Chicago since May, 2003. Chris Perez came on with runners on first and third and one out in the ninth and yielded a sacrifice fly to Carlos Quentin, then threw a called third strike past Paul Konerko for his fourth save.