White Sox bats quiet again in second straight shutout loss to Indians

You can't win if you can't score, and that's the Chicago White Sox's current dilemma.

After being shut out by the Cleveland Indians in the series opener Friday, the Sox's bats were quiet again Saturday night in a 7-0 loss in front of a big crowd of 32,044 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Held to 3 singles in Friday's 3-0 loss, the White Sox were again limited to 3 basehits against Indians starter Carlos Carrasco and reliever Zach McAllister in the middle game of the series.

In the back-to-back losses to Cleveland, the Sox have only had one baserunner make it to second. They are second to last in the majors with 49 runs scored, an average of 3.1 per game.

“We want to make sure that we give ourselves a chance by staying and trusting with the approaches we take into the at-bats,” manager Rick Renteria said. “Try not to focus too much on the results and stay focused on the approaches. We know that the results will take care of themselves. I think the guys are wanting to get the big hit or drive the ball out of the ballpark as opposed to staying very simple.

“I think it's a great learning lesson for all of us as a club, every single player, from 1-through-9 to the guys on the bench, see how they're going after us. We just have to make some adjustments.”

Saturday's highlight was Jacob May's single leading off the seventh. The rookie outfielder was 0-for-26 to open the season.

“I was in a chokehold because I couldn't breathe,” May said. “It was kind of like having Harambe on my back. Now that he's gone, hopefully I can have a lot of success and help this team win.”

Making his first start for the Sox after coming up from Class AAA Charlotte and replacing James Shields (right lat strain), Mike Pelfrey pitched 4⅓ innings and allowed 4 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk. Edwin Encarnacion's 2-run homer in the first inning was all the offense the Indians needed.

“Would have definitely liked to go a little deeper in the game,” Pelfrey said. “I'd like to get that 0-2 pitch back in the first to Encarnacion. Unfortunately that ended up being the game with as good as Carrasco was.”

Injury report:

Relief pitcher Zack Putnam and left fielder Melky Cabrera both left Saturday night's game with injuries in the seventh inning.

Putnam was lifted with right elbow tenderness and Cabrera hurt his left wrist while chasing a Jose Ramirez flyball and banging into the fence.

Manager Rick Renteria said Putnam “should be fine,” and X-rays on Cabrera's wrist were negative.

Shields on DL:

For the first time in his 12-year career, starting pitcher James Shields is on the disabled list.

The White Sox's right-hander landed on the 10-day DL on Friday with a strained right lat.

“I posted every start in my career, so this is kind of a rough one for me,” Shields said.

After going a combined 6-19 with a 5.85 ERA with the Sox and Padres last season, Shields is 1-0 with a 1.62 ERA in 3 starts this season.

The 35-year-old pitcher was hurt in his last start, last Sunday at Minnesota.

“It's very mild, nothing too crazy,” Shields said. “I tried to pitch through it and ended up getting through the start and actually pitched pretty well. But I didn't feel comfortable out there at all. This is just something that normally I fight through it and pitch with it. But this is one of those things where I don't want to hinder the team by me going out there. If anything happened in the first inning I would tax our bullpen.”