Had the White Sox lost this game after winning the first two, you might feel a punch to the gut, but you'd also understand. Shane Bieber has quieted the Sox before, and he'll do it again. Johnny Cueto provided another quality start, but he got knocked by some weak contact early and a sequence of better contact late. It's a 4-2 loss that makes sense.
But if you watched the first two games, the smaller things got to you. The Guardians turning two infield singles into runs over the first three innings, including a Cueto pickoff that ended up in right-field foul territory. The White Sox going walkless for the second time in three games, drawing just one over 112 plate appearances all series, and zero over their final 92. Settling for a 5-4 fielder's choice instead of a 5-4-3 double play because the initial throw lacked zip.
Elvis Andrus tried to pump up his team by saying that "sooner or later [the Guardians are] going to crumble." Alas, the brooms were needed to clean up what's left of the home team.
The White Sox are now seven games back, which is effectively eight games because of the tiebreaker, which means their tragic number is six. The Sox intent on lowering that last number as quickly as possible. At least they showed the foresight to sign a do not resuscitate form, which minimizes the agony for everybody involved.
