The White Sox's tendency to see something in Mike Clevinger nobody else sees inspired them not just to give him a bullpen spot, but the highest-leverage role at that.
The experiment is going as well as everybody who isn't the White Sox could have expected.
For the second time this season, Clevinger allowed the only run in a 1-0 loss, except this time he picked the most frustrating path. After getting a groundout to end the eighth, he started the ninth unable to scoop a low throw from Lenyn Sosa, who had to range into shallow right field to collect the carom off Andrew Vaughn's mitt. Carlos Santana was credited with a hit, and in defense of Clevinger and the official scorer, the play wasn't routine.
That's where the defense ends, because Clevinger proceeded to walk the Kyle Manzardo, Jhonkensy Noel and Nolan Jones to score the winning run. Noel and Jones came to the plate a combined 4-for-41 on the season, with the latter facing a five-man infield, but they didn't have to hit Clevinger. They just had to outlast him.
Clevinger has now issued seven walks against just two strikeouts over three innings this year. In a bullpen full of bad choices, he's certainly one of them.
Had the White Sox given up a run in a less embarrassing fashion, the offense would've stood alone as the most frustrating facet. They managed just two hits off Ben Lively and four Cleveland relievers, which undermined the value of their five walks.
They had chances. The best opportunity came in the fourth, when Luis Robert Jr. led off with a single, stole second, then took third on Nick Maton's sharp single to right. Andrew Vaughn got an elevated slider on the outside corner, but he could only shank it into shallow right field, where second baseman Gabriel Arias flagged it down with ease. Matt Thaiss followed by shooting a grounder right to Brayan Rocchio, who started a 6-4-3 double play to kill the threat.
In the sixth, Jacob Amaya and Mike Tauchman opened the innings with consecutive walks against Cade Smith, but Robert struck out, Maton flied out, and Vaughn grounded out.
They saved their last uprising against Emmanuel Clase in the ninth. Robert led off by reaching on a Rocchio error, as he hustled to beat a high throw that forced Santana to jump off the bag to catch it. Maton popped out, but Robert moved to second on a stolen base and advanced to third on a passed ball during the next two plate appearances. It's just that those were the White Sox's last two plate appearances, because Vaughn and Thaiss both struck out. The White Sox finished 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
In the process, they wasted six scoreless innings from Shane Smith, who produced an upgraded version of his MLB debut. He had better command from the jump, retiring the first 12 batters he faced, but just like last time, he dealt with a lapse in the middle innings. He opened the fifth by walking Manzardo and plunking Lane Thomas. Jones followed by blistering a hanging changeup 104 mph, but right to Sosa for the first out. While Sosa fumbled the chance to flip to second for a potential 6-4 double play, Smith had the footing he needed. He retired Arias with a weak bouncer up the first-base line, and then survived another lineout from Bo Naylor to end the inning.
Smith ended up carrying a no-hitter 5⅔ innings before José Ramírez ended the dream with a nubber inside third base for an infield single. Santana followed with a legit single to put runners on the corners, but Smith rallied to strike out Manzardo on three pitches, including a perfect two-strike curveball in the dirt to close the books on a successful second outing.
Bullet points:
*Tyler Gilbert made his White Sox debut and looked like a guy the bullpen could use, striking out three batters over 1⅔ scoreless innings, with the only blemish a one-out walk in the seventh.
*Robert was caught stealing in the first inning attempting a running start on Lively, and was tagged out after a brief rundown. It didn't dissuade him from continuing to think aggressively, as he ended up going 2-for-3 on the basepaths.
*The first-pitch temperature was 35 degrees with a 14 mph wind in from left field, further hampering two underwhelming offenses.
