CLEVELAND — The injuries kept piling up for the Chicago White Sox during their six-game trip. And so did several excruciating defeats — including one-run losses on Sunday in Detroit and Tuesday and Wednesday in Cleveland.
Thursday wasn’t as tight.
The Sox were limited to five hits — just two after the second inning — in a 6-1 loss to the Cleveland Guardians in front of 12,663 at Progressive Field.
“(Cleveland starter Gavin) Williams has really good stuff,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “And in some spots where we might have had some opportunities, he just made some really good pitches and we weren’t able to string some things together.
“Credit to him, he’s got really good stuff and it was just one of those days we couldn’t get it going.”
The Sox were outscored 10-3 while being swept in the three-game series. They have lost eight straight, including a winless six-game trip.
They’ll return home Friday to face the Boston Red Sox and will be adding prospect Chase Meidroth. The Sox plan on promoting the infielder from Triple-A Charlotte, a source confirmed to the Tribune.
Meidroth, 23, is slashing .267/.450/.600 with three home runs, four RBIs and eight walks in nine games for the Knights.
He was one of the four prospects acquired in the December trade that sent starter Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox. Thomas Nestico of TJStats initially reported the move on social media.
Here are three takeaways from the series at Progressive Field.
1. Aggressiveness paid off for the Guardians against Jonathan Cannon.
Kyle Manzardo hooked a first-pitch sweeper from Jonathan Cannon to right field for a two-run home run in the first inning Thursday.
Steven Kwan jumped on a first-pitch fastball in the third, hitting a two-run shot to right.
Cannon allowed six runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks in 5 1/3 innings.
“Thought everything was moving how I wanted it to, I just made a couple mistakes to Manzardo and Kwan there that made me pay for it,” Cannon said. “Tough one. Good hitters, but Manzardo put a good swing on a good pitch. Made a mistake to Kwan and he made me pay for it.”
Cannon is 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA in three starts but he has noticed some strides.
“For the most part I think the command is getting better, the stuff’s doing better,” Cannon said. “If my stuff is moving like that I’m going to have more good than bad.”
2. The Sox took a hit with the injuries to Mike Tauchman and Korey Lee.
The Sox suffered a triple whammy Wednesday, losing catcher Korey Lee and outfielder Mike Tauchman to injury and then losing the game 3-2 in crushing fashion.
Lee exited in the sixth inning with a left ankle sprain after trying to return to first on a pickoff throw. Tauchman suffered a right hamstring strain while trying to score the tying run with two outs in the ninth. He was tagged out near the plate to end the game.
The Sox placed both on the 10-day injured list Thursday.
“It’s bruised, it’s swollen,” Lee said Thursday. “Didn’t feel too hot. It’s part of the game. It’s recovery time. We’ll narrow down on that right now and hopefully get back soon.”
Tauchman is 4-for-10 with two walks and a run in three games after beginning the season on the IL with a strained right hamstring. Lee is slashing .333/.412/.467 with two doubles, one RBI and three runs in nine games.
“Never a good time to lose your players, but Tauch came back and he was looking really good,” Venable said. “Just real substance to his at-bats and quality to what he was doing on the field. And then Korey Lee, the same thing.
“It’s going to be one of these things that happens, we know every team deals with it so we’ve got to push forward and figure out a way to pick up the slack.”
3. The injuries led to plenty of roster shuffling.
Greg Jones was on-deck with Charlotte on Wednesday, preparing for his third at-bat at Jacksonville.
“They called me off deck and told me I was going to the big leagues and that I was getting on a plane in two hours, so I had to go pack everything up and get everything situated to hop on a plane and catch a flight out here,” the outfielder recalled Thursday morning.
The Sox called up Jones — who appeared in six games with the Colorado Rockies last year — as the corresponding move when left fielder Andrew Benintendi went on the 10-day IL with a left adductor strain.
The moves kept coming Thursday when the Sox selected the contracts of outfielder Joshua Palacios from Charlotte and catcher Omar Narváez from Double-A Birmingham when Tauchman and Lee went on the injured list.
The Sox signed Palacios, 29, to a minor-league deal on April 4. He is 3-for-13 in five games with Charlotte. He has a career .230 average with 12 home runs and 55 RBIs in 156 games over four major-league seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays (2021), Washington Nationals (2022) and Pittsburgh Pirates (2023-24).
“This is the dream right here,” Palacios said. “We all dream to play in the major leagues. Chicago is an absolutely beautiful city. Grew up watching the White Sox, they were pretty good when I was young and my favorite color’s black so it’s nice to be over here.”
Narváez has a .251/.334/.374 career slash line with 53 home runs and 203 RBIs in 677 games during nine major-league seasons with the Sox (2016-18), Seattle Mariners (2019), Milwaukee Brewers (2020-22) and New York Mets (2023-24).
“Really credit to Omar for going to Double A and coming back when I’m sure there were other opportunities where he could have gone and gone to Triple A,” Venable said. “Having him in the organization in the first place is meaningful. To have him be able to come up, a guy with his experience that knows how to navigate this league, is really helpful.”
