White Sox bats quiet again in 4-3 loss to Indians
After going 5-1 on a road trip to Milwaukee and Oakland last week, the White Sox reached the .500 mark for the first time since Opening Day and were seemingly positioned for continued success.
The Sox found a way to beat the last-place Indians and ace Corey Kluber on Monday in the opener of a seven-game homestand.
But the White Sox have taken two steps back, dropping consecutive games to Cleveland.
Multiple mistakes cost the Sox big-time over the first five weeks of the season, and they were on display again on Wednesday night's 4-3 loss to the Indians at U.S. Cellular Field.
In his third start, rookie Carlos Rodon was fairly effective over 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits.
Command was an issue again, and the left-hander walked five while striking out four.
In 16 innings over his 3 starts, Rodon has walked 15.
"It's different," Rodon said of pitching in the major leagues. "Guys are a little more patient. You just have to throw strikes. When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, that's it right there."
After Adam Eaton gave the White Sox the early lead with a solo home run in the third inning, Cleveland's Jose Ramirez drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and came around to score.
In the seventh inning, Dan Jennings relieved Rodon and walked leadoff man Brett Hayes, a .156 hitter. He also scored, and Jennings further opened the door to the Indians' 3-run inning by botching a throw to second base when Michael Bourn followed with a sacrifice bunt.
"You're just giving other teams opportunities," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura. "You clean that up and you probably have a better chance to win that game. The guys fought back there in the ninth, but really I think on our pitching side you're just giving them too many opportunities. You have to be able to clean that up and force them to swing the bat."
The Sox got solo home runs from Eaton, his first since April 12 of last season, and Conor Gillaspie. Trailing 4-2, they pushed hard in the ninth inning.
With one out, Jose Abreu singled against Cleveland closer Cody Allen, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.
Adam LaRoche and Avisail Garcia followed with walks to load the bases, but Gillaspie swung at Allen's first pitch and popped up for the second out.
"You're trying to be aggressive and you have the tying and winning run on there that you have a chance to knock in," Ventura said. "It was a good pitch to hit. He just didn't hit it."
Alexei Ramirez' infield single made it a 4-3 game, but Allen struck out pinch-hitter J.B. Shuck to end it.
Marcum, making his first major-league start since July 6, 2013, got the win after pitching 6⅔ innings and allowing 2 runs on 4 hits. He had 6 strikeouts and no walks.
"Offensively for them, they were swinging at strikes and laying off stuff in the dirt," Ventura said. "For us offensively, we were swinging at a lot of stuff off the plate and Marcum did a good job of getting us to do that."