White Sox fall to Guardians, still chasing first sweep of season
Baseball can be a cruel game, where even the slightest mistake can turn a win into a loss.
For a team like the White Sox battling to overcome a historically bad start to the season, it's best to keep the miscues to a minimum.
The Sox had two critical breakdowns in Thursday afternoon's game against the Guardians, and they wound up costing them dearly in a 3-1 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The first one came in the second inning, when the White Sox had the bases loaded and no outs. Set up early for a big inning and their first sweep of the season, they failed to score.
"Had a really good opportunity to put a crooked number on the board and didn't do it," manager Pedro Grifol said. "That kept the momentum on their side. That was it, that was the game."
After Jake Burger and Yasmani Grandal led off the second with singles and Andrew Benintendi walked, Cleveland starter Logan Allen escaped the jam by getting Hanser Alberto to pop out and striking out Seby Zavala and Jake Marisnick.
"It's not a secret, we've struggled with runners in scoring position this year," Zavala said. "If we cashed in those runs, it gives our pitchers a little more room, a little bit better chance. We have to figure out how to get those runners in."
Zavala's RBI single in the fourth inning snapped a scoreless tie, but Gabriel Arias made it a 1-1 game with a home run in the fifth off Sox starter Dylan Cease.
That set up the second mistake of the game.
In the seventh inning, the Guardians had runners on second and third and one out. With the infield playing in, Cease got Brayan Rocchio to bounce to Tim Anderson.
The White Sox's shortstop had an easy out at home plate, but Anderson bobbled the ball for a costly error.
"It was just one of those plays that he didn't ... he was in good position," Grifol said of Anderson. "He moved his feet, just one of those plays. I'm sure he'll make it nine out of 10 times but today he didn't."
If there was a positive, Cease pitched 6⅓ innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits. After a slow start, the right-hander has been looking more like the pitcher who finished second in American League Cy Young Award voting last year.
"I feel like I'm on the right track," Cease said. "Definitely more room to go, but much better than my previous couple. I think it's just being really focused on practice and repetition. Sometimes baseball is kind of a funky game where things don't go well or whatever the case is.
"Sometimes you just have to keep moving forward and sort of just let things even out."
Another positive was Garrett Crochet, who made his first relief appearance since Oct. 12, 2021, after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Pitching the ninth inning, the left-hander retired the side on seven pitches.
"It was really important to get that first one out of the way," Grifol said. "He's worked his butt off to get to today. He looked under control, he was throwing strikes, he'll be a big asset to this bullpen and to this club."