White Sox inability to deliver shows up again in loss to Cleveland

Good teams consistently seize opportunities and deliver results.

As the Chicago White Sox showed again Monday, they are not a good team.

Let's go right to the second inning and explain why.

Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer walked Avisail Garcia on 4 pitches to lead off the second. He walked J.B. Shuck on 4 pitches. He walked newcomer Mike Olt on 4 pitches to load the bases.

“At that point, he's almost trying to give it to you,” Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “He was attempting to give it to you and we couldn't do anything with it.”

In fairness, the White Sox did take the early lead over the Indians in the second inning on Carlos Sanchez's run-scoring groundout and Tyler Flowers' sacrifice fly.

But they could have gotten much, much more, and their inability to pounce on a golden opportunity came back to haunt the Sox, who lost to the Indians 3-2 at U.S. Cellular Field.

The White Sox scored the 2 runs without getting a hit, and they had only 3 hits in the game.

“I think that pretty (well) sums it up,” Ventura said of the loss being a reflection of the Sox' frustrating season. “It's hot and cold. It was right there for the taking.”

The Indians rallied to snap the White Sox' four-game winning streak with 3 solo home runs off Chris Sale.

Mike Aviles and Ryan Raburn homered off the ace in the fourth inning, and Raburn continued to his assault on Sox pitching with a solo shot in the sixth that decided the outcome.

Sale (12-8), who pitched 7 innings and allowed 3 runs on 7 hits to go with 8 strikeouts, blamed himself for the loss.

“It stinks giving up homers,” he said. “Usually, solo shots don't hurt you, but when you give up (darn) near a handful of them, it's tough. The guys come out early and score a couple, and back and forth, it's tough. Today was my day to pick them up and I didn't.

“I need to be that guy to be able to pick up my team, because they've picked me up my last time out. The only 2 losses we've had in the last week were on my day, so I've got to do something to change that and come out fighting next time.”

Getting some added offensive support would have been a huge lift for Sale, but the White Sox could only manage a triple and single from Garcia and pinch hitter Trayce Thompson's two-out single in the ninth inning.

“He was a little bit wild early in the game and then he adjusted and made a lot of good pitches,” Garcia said of Bauer. “It's tough to face guys like him. You just have to be positive and do your best.”

Raburn has 82 career RBI against the Sox. His second highest total is 25, against the Kansas City Royals.

“Their pitching is unbelievable,” Raburn said of the White Sox' staff. “They've got great arms over there. There's just some ballparks guys tend to hit better in, you know?”