CLEVELAND — The Chicago White Sox stayed with opener Jared Shuster to begin the third inning of Thursday’s bullpen day, and he surrendered a home run to Steven Kwan.
Justin Anderson replaced Shuster, and the Cleveland Guardians collected three hits and a walk in the seven hitters he faced, including a two-run single by Bo Naylor.
Chad Kuhl became the third Sox pitcher of the inning, taking over after Naylor’s single. He got Brayan Rocchio — the ninth batter of the inning — to fly out to center to end it.
The four-run third for the Guardians put the Sox in a hole they wouldn’t recover from in an 8-4 loss in front of 29,404 at Progressive Field.
Paul DeJong hit a two-run home run and Lenyn Sosa had two hits, including a solo homer, and two RBIs in the defeat. Sosa’s five straight multihit games are the most for a Sox player since José Abreu in August 2022.
The Sox (25-64) lost two of three in the series and have lost nine consecutive road series. They last won a series away from Guaranteed Rate Field on May 3-5 in St. Louis.
Here are three takeaways from the three days.
1. The close plays went the Guardians’ way.
Kwan’s homer leading off the third against Shuster gave the Guardians a 2-1 lead.
Angel Martínez greeted Anderson with a double and moved to third on a flyout. Josh Naylor then hit a high chopper to first. Gavin Sheets charged and threw to the plate, but Martínez slid in safely.
“It’s an instinctual decision,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “You’re ready to field, the ball goes up, you can’t be looking at the runner when the ball goes up. So you lose sight, the infield is in, so we’re throwing the ball to home plate. It’s a little more difficult play than what it actually looks like.”
Those types of situations were a theme in the series. In Tuesday’s sixth inning, DeJong attempted to throw out Josh Naylor at third on a grounder to short, but the ball bounced off Naylor’s back and went near the Guardians dugout. Naylor scored on the error, part of a three-run inning for the Guardians in their 7-6 victory.
Grifol liked the instincts DeJong showed in that instance. He also defended Luis Robert Jr. after the center fielder didn’t throw home on Tuesday’s much-discussed, game-ending sacrifice fly.
Thursday also saw the Sox narrowly miss out on completing double plays in the first and sixth. In the sixth-inning sequence, José Ramírez scored from second when Andrés Giménez beat a throw to first.
“Their baserunning on me in particular was a huge factor,” DeJong said. “That ball Naylor got in the way on (Tuesday), then that run with Ramirez today, good aggressive plays by them and that was the difference.”
2. Martín Maldonado keeps plugging away in a tough season.
Maldonado jokingly gave high-fives to the air in the Sox dugout after hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning Wednesday.
His teammates briefly gave the catcher the silent treatment before coming over and greeting him with smiles and pats on the back.
“They know the work I’ve been putting in on a daily basis,” Maldonado said. “They see me in the cage grinding and I’ve been in this game a long time. They see how, even when I’m having a tough time, my level of energy is still there.
“You try to lead by example. You see every time I get a hit, everybody gets up. It’s what teams do. They care about each other and that’s one thing we are doing right now. We care about each other.”
Maldonado had one of his better offensive nights of the season, going 2-for-5 with three RBIs in the 8-2 Sox victory. He’s hitting .096 with two home runs and eight RBIs.
“I told you guys before, it’s about results, but at the end of the day, all you could do is have quality at-bats,” Maldonado said.
3. Decisions could be on the horizon for an effective rotation.
Mike Clevinger is scheduled to start Friday for Triple-A Charlotte on a rehab assignment. The right-hander has been on the injured list retroactive to May 25 with right elbow inflammation. He recently dealt with neck stiffness.
Grifol said there could be plenty of options when Clevinger returns.
“It depends on how he feels,” Grifol said. “It’s 50 or 55 pitches (for the rehab outing), so he’s obviously not going to grab the ball and take it to the seventh inning.
“He can piggyback somebody, he can start with somebody piggybacking him. This is all speculation because he has to go out there and feel good.”
He’ll eventually return to a rotation that has been effective recently. The starters entered Thursday with a combined 3.29 ERA and 122 strikeouts since June 7.
Chris Flexen allowed three earned runs in six innings Tuesday, and Erick Fedde allowed one run in six innings Wednesday.
“We feed off one another,” Fedde said. “Fun rivalry, competition. It’s fun when you’re throwing well and things are going like that. It’s important, too, for us to keep doing that.”
Drew Thorpe, Garrett Crochet and Jonathan Cannon are the probable starters for the upcoming series at Miami.
