CLEVELAND -- The longest plate appearance in six years may have just saved the Chicago White Sox season.

Centerfielder Tristan Peters drew an 18 pitch walk against Guardians ace Gavin Williams in the sixth inning of a scoreless game -- after which Chicago scored six runs. Williams was immediately pulled after throwing a season high 113 pitches as the final 18 to Peters was the most to a player in MLB since Cardinals catcher Matt Weiters saw 19 in 2020.

"It felt like I was up there for an hour," Peters said after the 7-3 win. "I was just exhausted...I was just trying to see it as deep as possible, especially when it got to two strikes."

Peters fouled off 12 pitches in the plate appearance, which began with two called strikes after a first pitch ball.

The White Sox dugout was buzzing after yet another Peters feat this season. The All-Star has already hit for the cycle and tied a rookie record with home runs in five straight games. Now he's added one of the better at-bats of the season to his resume.

Teammate Andrew Benintendi was on second base during the long plate appearance.

"I was getting plenty of reps in for my secondary leads," Benintendi quipped. "Never seen that before. It's easy to get in swing mode. His two (late) takes were unbelievable."

Moments later, Peters made a smart baserunning play by getting into Nathaniel Lowe's throwing lane as he was hit in the helmet while Lowe attempted to get a force out at second. It plated Benintendi with the first run of the game before the White Sox added on four more hits, including Miguel Vargas ' 31st home run.

"It's no secret what's on the line here," winning pitcher Sean Burke said. "Everyone is aware of it. That AB by Peters was huge. That's probably the most impressive at-bat I've seen this year in the league."

Manager Will Venable added: "Once you get to 8 to 9 pitches, there is a buzz in the dugout."

The big inning came after Williams kept getting in-and-out of trouble throughout the early portion of the game. Chicago was 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position in the first four innings, a frustrating trend which has plagued them throughout a mediocre turn at the plate lately. It's led to a tightening in the AL Central as the Guardians came into the game just a 0.5 behind the first place White Sox.

"That was more like ourselves," Peters said of the offensive output. "It just felt like the baseball we play."

Not only did the win extend the lead in the division, it clinched the tiebreaker over Cleveland for Chicago -- who has won seven of the first 11 games between the two teams. According to ESPN Analytics, they have a 77 percent chance to win the AL Central. That would have dropped to 44 percent with a loss on Monday.

Though the White Sox got great pitching from both Burke and opener Sean Newcomb, Peters' long plate appearance was the topic of conversation postgame. He was asked what he thought about seeing the most pitches in an at-bat since the beginning of the decade.

"I think it's really funny," he said. "Really random. I would never have expected that. I think I swung at one that may have hit me. You're just in fight mode there."