The White Sox (57-91) came up short during the opener of this three-game series in Cleveland against the Guardians (76-71).
Martín Pérez, 34, started on the mound for the South Siders. Pérez had a decent outing, and he did enough to secure a quality start.
Partially thanks to the strong performance by Pérez, the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth. However, Cleveland got on the board when David Fry launched his eighth homer of the season. That made the score 1-0, and Cleveland’s
lead only grew from there.
In the fifth, Jhonkensky Noel set the table with a one-out single. After a productive ground out, Noel advanced to second, and Austin Hedges lined an RBI single to double Cleveland’s lead.
Pérez retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh, but he was removed after allowing a double to Gabriel Arias. Steven Wilson took over on the mound, and he allowed the inherited runner to score on a single by Nolan Jones.
The Guardians picked up their fourth and final run in the eighth, when Angel Martínez pulled a solo homer off Wilson.
Meanwhile, the White Sox had no success against Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, 26, a right-handed pitcher. Bibee pitched a shutout, lasting all nine innings and only allowing two hits, which were both singles. Bravo to Chase Meidroth and Will Robertson, tonight’s No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, for collecting the only White Sox hits. Bibee struck out 10 and did not issue any walks, barely missing the Maddux, as he only needed 103 pitches to complete the shutout.
These two teams will be back in action again on Saturday, and the first pitch is scheduled to happen at 5:10 p.m. Central. The probable starting pitchers are Davis Martin (4.03 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 0.9 fWAR) and Parker Messick (1.93 ERA, 2.54 FIP, 0.8 fWAR). As usual, CHSN will televise the game, and WMVP 1000 AM will have the radio coverage. We hope to see you then.
