If you saw a White Sox lineup card that had Josh Harrison batting first, Adam Haseley second and Leury García third, you'd probably assume the other team would have no problem holding them in check.
That's exactly what happened this afternoon. With five regulars sitting, Triston McKenzie and four Cleveland relievers limited the White Sox to a run on three hits. McKenzie's usual control problem added four walks and a hit batter to the tab, but that's where the lineup's shallow nature came into play.
It's understandable why Joe McEwing sent Adam Engel in an attempt to score from first as the trailing runner on Danny Mendick's double that got checked up by the tarp down the left-field line. It wasn't a good send, in the sense Steven Kwan cut down Engel by about 20 feet for the first out. McEwing's thinking was justified when Harrison and Haseley struck out on seven pitches between them, including four whiffs.
The White Sox only had one other at-bat with a runner in scoring position.
On the other side of the ball, Jimmy Lambert's day was marred by two breaking balls -- an inside slider that José Ramírez managed to keep fair for an RBI double in the first, and a true mistake 0-2 hanger that Oscar Mercado clubbed for a RBI double with two outs in the fourth. Around those events, he struck out five over 3⅔ innings, after which Reynaldo López, Bennett Sousa, Kyle Crick, Aaron Bummer and José Ruiz limited the Guardians to a hit and a walk over the remaining 4⅓ innings.
Pair Game 2's run prevention effort with Game 1's lineup, and maybe the Sox split this doubleheader. Then again, with the offense scoring 12 runs over the last six games regardless of the name-brand quality, maybe not.
Bullet points:
*Sousa committed a throwing error on a pickoff, but this one didn't hurt.
*Harrison contributed an impressive leaping over-the-shoulder catch in shallow left field, then dodged a sliding Andrew Vaughn with a tumble. That's what it takes to retire Ramírez.
*Harrison then left the game with shoulder soreness, so Jake Burger was the only one of the sitting starters to play in this one.
*Lambert was optioned to Charlotte after the game, so Haseley remains for the time being.
