Just when it looked like the White Sox turned a corner, they got shut out by a team starting a guy with a perfect 10.00 ERA over the first six starts of his career, probably because he throws with his right hand.
Hunter Gaddis earned his first career victory by throwing six shutout innings, with four Cleveland relievers carrying it the rest of the way. The White Sox mustered only six baserunners over nine innings -- three hits, two walks and one HBP. One of those hits was erased when Luis Robert Jr. was caught stealing for the first time all season.
It wasted a perfectly cromulent opener appearance by Jimmy Lambert, and some admirable bulk boy work from Jesse Scholtens in his first extended MLB appearance. Yasmani Grandal cut down Will Brennan on the back end of a double steal for the second out of the second inning, but then he let a low-and-away fastball get past him to allow the Guardians to take a 1-0 lead, and they didn't need anything more.
They did add two more in the seventh, and in equally frustrating fashion. Garrett Crochet retired two of the three batters he faced, with Gabriel Arias drawing a one-out walk and moving to second on a groundout. Pedro Grifol called for Gregory Santos to face Mike Zunino, who came to the plate in the middle of a 1-for-31 slump. It felt a little like overthinking it, and that feeling hit me before Zunino hit an opposite-field two-run homer that effectively buried the White Sox.
Bullet points:
*Romy González went 0-for-3 in his first start in Hanser Alberto's stead, but he made a nice play ranging to his right. Amed Rosario also made the safe sign in vain, but didn't hurt himself doing so.
*Scholtens only struck out one over five innings, but he threw just 67 pitches under the strategy the Sox deployed the last time they saw Cleveland: Throw strikes and see what happens.
*Andrew Benintendi racked up an outfield assist by doubling off Steven Kwan at second base after catching José Ramírez's line drive in the third inning. Kwan took a chance on what he thought was a sinking liner, but Benintendi caught it with ease. I just wish he would've ran it to second himself for a 7-unassisted. This game could've given us something.
