Game 1 – Guardians 4, White Sox 1: Bieber Dominates Sox Bats
The South Siders dropped game one of the twin bills today in Cleveland, and Shane Bieber was lights out on the mound. The Sox offense only mustered one run against the 2020 Cy Young Award Winner.
Davis Martin took the hill for this game, and he was charged with the loss as he ran into trouble early in the game. In the third, Amed Rosario singled home the first run of the ball game. Then the infamous Jose Ramirez banged one through the shift for a two-run single, making it 3-0. First base was open with Ramirez at the plate, but manager Tony La Russa elected to pitch to him, and J-Ram made the Sox pay. Cleveland tacked on another in the fifth on a double, and that was all that the Guardians needed for the win. After Davis Martin exited, Jose Ruiz and Joe Kelly finished the last innings of the ball game with a scoreless inning each.
As mentioned, the White Sox offense was absolutely shut down by Bieber. He carved up Sox hitters for nine innings in this one, only allowing three hits and one run while striking out seven. The only run for the South Siders came from an RBI single by Eloy Jimenez late in this one.
White Sox manager Tony La Russa once again became the subject of scrutiny in this game. As mentioned earlier, La Russa elected to pitch to Jose Ramirez with a base open in the third, which Ramirez made them pay for. From there, we move to the bottom of the fifth, again with Jose Ramirez up and a runner in scoring position with two outs. Davis Martin fired in the first pitch to Jose Ramirez, who fouled it off to make the count 0-1. It was then that Tony La Russa decided to intentionally walk Jose Ramirez, reminiscent of the 1-2 count walk to Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner a few months ago – except, this time, Davis was able to retire Franmil Reyes to end the inning.
With the loss in the first game of the doubleheader, the Sox fell to 41-45.
W: Shane Bieber (4-5) | L: Davis Martin (1-3)
Box Score
Offensive Recap
Pitching Recap
White Sox Scoring Recap
Top 7th: Eloy Jimenez singles to LF scoring, Andrew Vaughn. 4-1 Guardians
Notable Performances
Eloy Jimenez: 1-for-3, RBI
Eloy had the only RBI today, helping to avoid the shutout.
Game 2 – White Sox 7, Guardians 0: Cease Dazzles Once Again In Shutout
Needing to salvage a split of the Guardians and get back in the win column, the White Sox used some early offense and excellent pitching from Dylan Cease to do exactly that.
It all started with 5.2 innings of shutdown work from Dylan Cease, who struck out nine in this performance without allowing a run. He cruised through most of the game, except in the sixth inning where he departed early after tiring and losing his command. However, Reynaldo Lopez was able to get out of the bases-loaded jam that Cease created, and from there, the White Sox offense took care of the rest. Kendall Graveman took over after Lopez, who worked in and out of trouble with the help of a nice sliding play in left-field by A.J. Pollock ended the inning. Matt Foster took over in the ninth, where he pitched a scoreless inning to close it out.
The White Sox bats got started early in this one. Jose Abreu jump started this offense with a two-run home run in the first inning. Josh Harrison blasted off in the second inning with a solo shot to left field. Then in the third, Eloy Jimenez hit a ball to third that went off of Guardians third baseman Ernie Clement for an error, and Andrew Vaughn came home to give the Sox a 4-0 lead. Luis Robert added a three-run homer to blow the game open in the ninth inning and secure a win.
With the split of the doubleheader, the White Sox sit at 42-45 heading into the series finale.
W: Dylan Cease (8-4) | Konnor Pilkington (1-2)
Box Score
Offensive Recap
Pitching Recap
White Sox Scoring Recap
Top 1st: Jose Abreu homers (11) to CF, scoring Andrew Vaughn. 2-0 White Sox
Top 2nd: Josh Harrison homers (3) to LF. 3-0 White Sox
Top 3rd: Eloy Jimenez reaches on a error by third baseman Ernie Clement. Andrew Vaughn scores. 4-0 White Sox
Top 9th: Luis Robert homers (11) to RF. Seby Zavala, Adam Engel score. 7-0 White Sox.
Notable Performances
Dylan Cease: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K
Dylan Cease made his team leading eighteenth start tonight. Once again he was on his game. His stuff tonight was solid, and it is his second straight start of eight-plus strikeouts. Cease lowered his season ERA to 2.30 in the effort.
Jose Abreu: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, HR
Abreu got the offense started early with his eleventh homer of the year.
Josh Harrison: 1-for-4, HR
Josh Harrison clubbed his third homer of the year to make it 3-0.
Luis Robert: 3-for-4, 3 RBI, HR
La Pantera added to the 4-0 lead with a long one to the right-field corner to put the game to bed.
Next Matchup
Lucas Giolito will take on the Guardians for the final game of the series tomorrow evening, and he will face off against right hander Aaron Civale.
The game will be over on NBC Sports Chicago at 6:10 PM.
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Featured Image: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
