Guardians rookie Khalil Watson got his first hit during their seventh inning rally Monday night off Grant Taylor, got his first home run Tuesday night for Cleveland's only run off Sean Burke, and continued his coming out party against Taylor again on Wednesday.
His 85 mph grounder was a seeing-eye single for sure, but it was the second well-placed soft roller Taylor allowed in the 10th, and brought Watson to six RBI for the series. And when Chase Meidroth and Braden Montgomery both grounded out weakly with the bases loaded against Shawn Armstrong in the bottom half, it was enough to rescue the Guardians from a sweep and an advancing storm front, even as the Sox threatened another raucous finish. An 0-for-9 showing with runners in scoring position ended up being decisive.
"There were some opportunities, and really credit to the Guardians pitching staff," Will Venable said. "They’re just really tough to score on. Those opportunities, you get them, you’ve got to take advantage of them. But we weren’t able to do that today."
After Cade Smith's attempt at a two-inning save on Friday night was spoiled by a Sam Antonacci walk-off single in the 10th, he was one out away from redemption and locking down a 3-1 win in the ninth.
Instead, the Sox started strokin' again. Braden Montgomery drilled a middle-middle heater out to center for his first normal-looking home run as a major leaguer. But it doesn't seem like the pitch call was the problem, because Smith's first-pitch sweeper to Randal Grichuk wound up halfway up the concourse in left to suddenly knot the game at 3, and turn a quiet day for the Sox offense into a burgeoning riot. Back-to-back walks from Armstrong in the 10th threatened another explosive finish, but Kyle Manzardo dove to the first bag in time to retire Montgomery as rain began to fall.
"It was really cool in the moment," Braden Montgomery said of the comeback. "Obviously it’s in the past now."
A stellar opening four outs from Chris Murphy and Erick Fedde dancing around baserunners delivered a scoreless game into the sixth, but a crucial Colson Montgomery error briefly halted a patchwork pitching plan's successful run.
After Brayan Rocchio led off the sixth with a solid single, Fedde got the right-handed David Fry to chase an 0-2 sweeper off the edge for a potential double play ball. But fielding it on the move, Montgomery dropped the ball while pulling it out of his glove, and Fedde didn't have the tools to retire any of the lefties between him and the escape hatch. He walked Manzardo on five pitches to load the bases and fell behind Rhys Hoskins 2-0, but had a lot of success just spamming him sweepers, striking him out with one in a fairly hittable location to buy himself the chance to escape.
The same play didn't work on Watson, who continued his monster series by lining an 0-1 plate-splitter to left, which probably would have plated a pair even if Kyle Teel hadn't rushed the catching part of applying the tag, allowing the runners to advance. That Brandon Eisert entered and struck out a pair to end the threat only raises the question of whether he should have faced Watson as well. Continuing the theme of embattled lefty relievers having their best games of the season, Eisert added a 1-2-3 seventh as well.
"Pretty happy with the outing, but I'd love to pick the guys up a little more when I have the opportunity," Fedde said. "But the boys fought hard today and made it a game."
"In that spot, you open for Fedde because you want to be able to push him through the bottom of the lineup there," Venable said. "And he had pitched so well, he’s really pitched so well all month. They have pinch hitters over there, you’re considering those matchups and evaluating them against each other and just felt really good about Fedde in that spot."
Joe Rock stopped that trend in the eighth. Tasked with a slate of lefties, Petey Halpin popping a bunt over his head for a leadoff single removed the room to place three walks he subsequently issued, two to left-handers replete with wild misses and one to the light-hitting Patrick Bailey to push a run across. That Rock returned for a 1-2-3 ninth either allowed the Sox to tie it, or his sins in the eighth kept Grichuk from walking it off, depending on your view on life.
Guardians starter Tanner Bibee struck out just three on eight whiffs over six scoreless innings, and didn't tout the upper-echelon velocity of Gavin Williams or Parker Messick, but nevertheless became the third-straight Guardians starter to kettle the Sox offense. Not that he didn't have a bevy of close calls.
Andrew Benintendi lined into a double play after Miguel Vargas' one-out walk in the first. Colson Montgomery flied out right in front of the right field foul pole in the second, in between a Teel hit-by-pitch and Meidroth skipping a jamshot off the chalk of the right field line to put runners on the corners. But Braden Montgomery took a called strike three on a full count with Meidroth in motion, where he was ruled out at second upon review. A pair of two-out singles offered a soft threat in the third, but Bibee jammed Benintendi with a cutter to escape with a routine groundout to third.
The Guardians also simply defended their butts off. Brayan Rocchio robbed Teel of a hit with a diving catch on a soft flare to short center to lead off the fourth. Teel got his first hit of the season three innings later off lefty Erik Sabrowski, got to third on a Colson Montgomery double, and scored when the newer Montgomery hit a sacrifice fly that might have glanced off the moon on its way down. But when Grichuk entered as a pinch-hitter ripped a potential game-tying drive to the left-center gap, familiar menace Steven Kwan laid out to keep the Sox at zero hits with runners in scoring position for the day.
That figure reached 0-for-6 after the Guardians finally did flub one in the eighth, with reliever Hunter Gaddis whiffing on a Vargas comebacker to put two runners aboard in a 3-1 game, routine groundouts from Benintendi and Teel ended the threat, and set up what seemed like a routine save chance for Smith. Oh well.
""We took the series from a team that we're battling for first place," Grichuk said. "Played it tough, could've swept them, which is huge. It's a lot of confidence. I know we have some down guys in here now but enjoy the off day tomorrow and come back Friday and be ready to go."
Bullet points:
*The start of the game was delayed by rain for two hours and 40 minutes. The White Sox say they will be sending emails to everyone who had their tickets scanned Wednesday that will contain an offer to redeem complimentary tickets to a future date, as a show of their appreciation.
*Jacob Gonzalez may yet be a future All-Star, as he snapped an 0-for-28 skid with a broken bat single to lead off the eighth, then singled again after the back-to-back blasts in the ninth, but was stranded when Armstrong came on and got Vargas to fly out to center for the first of his two escapes.
*The Guardians are averaging 3.44 runs per game and are 4-6 since José Ramírez's last game on June 13.
