White Sox rally falls short in 6-5 loss to Indians
As has been the case quite a bit the past three weeks, Billy Hamilton lit the spark for the White Sox in Tuesday night's game against the Indians.
Starter Dylan Cease doused the flame, but the Sox's offense reignited it in the ninth inning, staging a furious rally that fell short in a 6-5 loss.
"When you know the team's not going to quit, it's more fun to think positive," manager Tony La Russa said. "I'm just impressed with the fact we keep playing nine. If we do that, good things will happen. There were a lot of good things except for the score."
Hamilton got the good going in the second inning.
With the White Sox trailing 2-0, the speedy outfielder lined a 2-run double to right-center field and came all around to score when Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges dropped the relay throw at the plate.
"It's typical of how he's been playing," La Russa said. "I'm sure he's had a career full of things like that but we're seeing it ourselves. He gets the big hit, never stops running and he saw an opening there and he just made a run. Reminded me of Rickey (Henderson).
"Sometimes I call it Rickey runs, you make a run that nobody else makes unless you've got that extra gear."
Given a 3-2 lead while opposing Indians ace Shane Bieber, Cease wasn't able to hold it. The right-hander lasted just 3⅓ innings and allowed 6 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk while throwing 94 pitches.
"There's just not too much positive I can say about it, really," Cease said after his ERA jumped from 2.98 to 3.79. "It's one of those I'm going to put it behind me. Honestly, tonight was one of those nights where I didn't feel like I was all over the place. They just put the ball in play and did a good job with that."
Trailing 6-3 in the ninth inning, the White Sox gave themselves a great opportunity to win the game.
A Zack Collins RBI single got the rally going, and Nick Madrigal made it a 6-5 game with another run-scoring single.
Jose Abreu came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded, but he grounded out and the Sox dropped their second straight.
"If you're not going to win the game, then that's definitely the next best thing," said right fielder Jake Lamb, who led off the ninth with a single. "It's putting pressure on an in-division opponent. That's a great ballclub over there and we had our best hitter at the plate, that's all you can ask for."