The White Sox continued their struggles at home and against the Guardians on Friday night, with a tough showing against Cleveland in an 8-2 loss.
The Sox were stuck in an early 6-0 hole in this one as the Guardians had a maddening amount of batted ball luck, stringing together multiple hits with exit velocities under 80 mph as they built a comfortable lead early on. Lucas Giolito continued his up and down season tonight, only pitching three innings in what was a disappointing start to his second half. His final line: 3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 2 K.
The Sox had multiple opportunities to get back into this game early on but just couldn’t get a big hit as they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position tonight.
The loss dropped them back under .500 at 46-47. With Minnesota off for the night, the Sox only lost a half-game to them and are currently 3.5 games behind the AL Central leaders.
W: Cal Quantrill (7-5) | L: Lucas Giolito (6-6)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
Bottom 3rd: Jose Abreu doubled to left field. Tim Anderson scores. CWS 1 – CLE 6
Bottom 3rd: Yasmani Grandal grounded out to shortstop. Yoan Moncada scores. CWS 2 – CLE 6
Notable Performances
Tim Anderson: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 K
Tim Anderson got his second half off to a positive start with a two-hit performance in this one. He knocked two opposite-field singles tonight and scored a run, raising his batting average on the season up to .314 with another multi-hit effort.
Lucas Giolito: 3 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Lucas Giolito just didn’t have it in his first start coming out of the All-Star break, as he labored through just three innings in this one. He also had some bad luck tonight, with Cleveland having seven hits with exit velocities under 80 mph. The outing bumped Giolito’s ERA up to 5.12 after what had been a recent stretch of successful outings. The poor showing puts some extra pressure on the Sox starters tomorrow with a double-header up next.
The Next Matchup
The White Sox have a quick turnaround with a double-header tomorrow.
Fan-favorite Johnny Cueto will get the start in game one at 12:10 PM CT, which can be seen on NBC Sports Chicago.
Lance Lynn takes the hill for game two at 6:10 PM CT for a nationally televised game on FOX.
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Featured Image: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports