With the White Sox going from Erick Fedde to a bullpen game started by Jared Shuster, they needed the kind of defensive effort from Wednesday's victory to carry over.
It did not. The Guardians were the better team in all aspects of the game. They outhit the White Sox 12-8, out-walked them 5-1 (6-1 with the HBP), and out-defended them to deny the White Sox a second road series victory of the season (St. Louis remains the lucky one).
The game escaped the White Sox's grasp in the third inning. Steven Kwan untied a 1-1 game with a rare homer off a lefty to start the inning, but it truly started unraveling when the White Sox's decision to play the infield in with a runner on third and one out backfired. Gavin Sheets was late on his attempt to get Angel Martínez at home, giving Josh Naylor a run-scoring fielder's choice that extended Cleveland's lead to 3-1, with still only one out. That came back to bite the White Sox when, four batters later, Bo Naylor delivered a two-out bases loaded single off Justin Anderson that gave the Guardians all the runs they needed.
Chad Kuhl, the third inning's third pitcher, finally recorded a third out, but he'd have his share of problems. He gave up a pair of hits to open the fifth, which turned into a run on a productive out. But then he compounded problems by walking ninth-hitting Brayan Rocchio to load the bases, then doing the same to Kwan to make it a 7-1 game.
After Paul DeJong hit his team-leading 16th homer to breathe some life back into the White Sox offense, José Ramírez clawed back one of those runs with his legs. He reached on an infield single, drew a catcher interference call on Korey Lee with a steal attempt on Josh Naylor's swing, then scored all the way from second on an attempted 3-6-1 double play because DeJong was laser-focused on the out at first, and Kuhl first looked to the first base umpire for the safe/out call.
Kuhl once again served the purpose of throwing bulk innings, albeit inefficiently. He handled 4⅓ innings to get the game through seven, even though it required 94 pitches to do so.
Bullet points:
*Tommy Pham fumbled a pickup on a first-inning single for an error, but it only resulted in an extra base.
*Nicky Lopez deprived Ramírez of a hit by snaring a hot one hopper while falling backward, and making the throw from the seat of his pants.
*Lenyn Sosa hit a solo shot in the ninth for his fifth consecutive two-hit game.
