As is often the case with long losing streaks, a different part can fail every game.
At some points over a skid that reached six games Saturday night, a better bullpen effort would've worked wonders. On this particular night, four White Sox relievers combined to throw 5 ⅔ innings of one-run ball to keep their team very much within striking distance, but this time the White Sox offense couldn't summon their usual mid-game rally, resulting in a humdrum 3-1 loss.
Joey Cantillo and four Cleveland relievers limited the Sox to a Michael A. Taylor solo shot and three other hits, while the pesky Guardians offense did just enough to wear down Sean Burke.
"It is a game of inches," Will Venable said. "But we had a couple opportunities where we didn't come through, didn't put the ball in play situationally. Tough couple bounces here and there, but we've got to do a better job in those situations."
The Guardians rolled out eight left-handed bats against Burke, who showed why a changeup is a glaring absence in his game. His fastball-curveball combination had the requisite hop and sharpness, respectively, but it's also a tough act on which to solely rely. The Guardians concentrated on swinging at the fastball while taking as many curveballs as advised, challenging Burke to land his share of quality 12-6 breaking balls.
With neither side giving in, the result was a lot of protracted at-bats. The Guardians hit 20 foul balls against Burke and made him throw 34 pitches on a two-strike count. He struck out seven over 3 ⅓ innings, but he also walked three on top of five hits, and gave up a pair of runs. A Steven Kwan leadoff double came around to score on a two-out single by Kyle Manzardo in the first, and Brayan Rocchio cashed in C.J. Kayfus' leadoff walk in the fourth with an RBI double. That proved enough to saddle him with a loss.
"It's like, a little bit of in between," Burke said of his many long at-bats. "A lot of the pitches they're fouling off, they're not really on, they're kind of just being able to fight them off. So, I'm kind of torn between trying to beat them with that same pitch and then not wanting to give them a favor by throwing them a breaking ball or, something that's more hittable for them for their bat speed."
While Burke needed 26 pitches to complete the first inning, Cantillo threw just 23 over the first two. While Burke needed 70 pitches to get through three, Cantillo used just 31. He survived the White Sox's early attempt to jump on his fastball, which allowed him to start pitching backward his next time through the order, and the White Sox were never quite able to square him up, with the exception of Taylor jumping on a hanging first-pitch changeup in the second inning and letting the wind carry it out to left for his eighth homer of the season.
“It’s a big part of it," Taylor said of mechanical tweaks to reduce his leg kick. "Just giving me some room for error in my swing. It felt like my swing was in and out of the zone pretty quick for a little stretch there."
Edgar Quero best displayed the White Sox's frustrations. In the third inning, he swung over a first pitch changeup, took a 1-1 fastball down the middle that caused him to hop in dismay, and then got locked up by a curveball for strike three. In the fifth inning, he came to the plate with runners on the corners with one out after Brooks Baldwin reached on an error and went to third on a Lenyn Sosa single. Cantillo attacked him exclusively with secondary pitches, all terrifically spotted. He swung over a first-pitch changeup, then fanned at one just off the plate for an 0-2 count. Quero tapped a slightly elevated curveball on the inside corner to stay alive, but Cantillo went back to the well with superior location down and in, and Quero spun over it and back to the dugout. Luis Robert Jr. then grounded out to end that threat.
"Whatever it might be, you've got to find a way to shorten up and put the ball in play there," Venable said when asked about the Sox not seeing fastballs in RISP situations. "These guys are guys that are out there performing on the other side and doing a great job and attacking us different ways, credit to them. But for us, we've got to find a way to back the baseball up, make an adjustment as we see them using more spin."
Quero was able to stay alive in the seventh against Hunter Gaddis, drawing a two-out walk after Brooks Baldwin stole second base, but Gaddis spammed Robert with three sliders just off the outside corner, and Robert whiffed on all three.
Curtis Mead then tried to start a rally in the eighth with a leadoff walk. Erik Sabrowski replaced Gaddis for a lefty-lefty matchup against Kyle Teel, who flared out to the left side. Taylor then drew a walk to put the tying runs on base, and Mike Tauchman followed with a promising-looking grounder to the right side. But Rocchio smothered it with a dive and flipped to second, where Gabriel Arias was able to turn two and kill the last White Sox threat.
Bullet points:
*The Sox went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and are now 2-for-37 in the clutch over their last three games.
*Bryan Hudson gave up the other Cleveland run, as Kayfus stung him for a solo shot to start the sixth.
*Arias, the lone righty in the Cleveland lineup, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
*Wikelman González pitched on consecutive days for just the second time all season, and threw a perfect inning to go along with his two from Friday.
