Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal all slumping at the same time

Jose Abreu

A lot of the talk about the White Sox offense has centered around early-season injuries to Eloy Jimenez and Tim Anderson. Those hurt, no question, although Anderson returned to the lineup for Thursday's 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Even more talk has centered around the usage of fringe players such as Nick Williams, Leury Garcia and Jake Lamb. Yes, it was a little odd to have Williams batting fifth and Lamb batting seventh on Tuesday night when the Sox were facing the best pitcher in the American League, Cleveland's Shane Bieber.

Williams was designated for assignment to make room for Anderson on the roster Thursday. In two days, he went from batting in the middle of the order to off the team. And Williams was the logical guy to go, so it's a fair question as to why he was given much responsibility while he was here.

And that said, the Sox's real problem offensively is slumps from key guys:

Jose Abreu is batting .184 with a .643 OPS. He is 9 for 49 on the season with 21 strikeouts. Twenty-one strikeouts in 13 games for the reigning AL MVP! And while he's got two home runs and nine RBIs, almost all of that production is tied up in the two grand slams he's hit already this season. 

Yoan Moncada is batting .191 with a .573 OPS. He is 9 for 47 on the season with 17 strikeouts. He has one home run and four RBIs, while batting in the cleanup spot. That's not enough production. 

Yasmani Grandal is batting .133 with a .600 OPS. He is 4 for 30, with one home run and six RBIs. Thank goodness he's taken nine walks to boost his OPS, but that's not enough hits for a guy who is batting No. 6 in the order.

The Sox are 6-7 after Thursday's loss. That's not too bad, considering they've gotten little from the Nos. 3, 4 and 6 batters in their lineup.

Let's see if any of these guys wake up this weekend as the Sox open a four-game series in Boston on Friday night.

Shane Bieber is just a little bit better than Lucas Giolito

Shane Bieber

The heavyweight pitching matchup lived up to the hype. Neither Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber nor White Sox ace Lucas Giolito gave up a run Tuesday night.

These two high-end pitchers have matched up three times since the start of the 2020 season. All three times, Cleveland has won, and Bieber came away with a 2-0, 10-inning victory in this latest showdown.

Here are the final lines for both pitchers:

Bieber: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 11 Ks, 1 BB, 113 pitches, 85 strikes

Giolito: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 8 Ks, 2 BBs, 107 pitches, 75 strikes

Nothing against Giolito, who is a strong pitcher for the Sox, and he was excellent in this game. However, while Giolito is a top-10 pitcher in the American League, Bieber might be the very best.

The Cleveland right-hander was absolutely dominant through eight innings. He allowed only three men to reach base, and not a single Sox base runner reached second until the bottom of the ninth. And, he was efficient with his pitches -- I believe he only had 67 pitches through six innings. That's how you hang around through the ninth.

Bieber was not vulnerable until the ninth. With the score still 0-0, Adam Eaton singled with one out, and Jose Abreu walked with two outs. That put runners on first and second for Yoan Moncada, who had a chance to win the game, but he struck out swinging, flailing helplessly at Bieber's knuckle curve.

That ended Bieber's night, and when Cleveland scored two in the 10th, he got the win.

As for Giolito, he was strong through seven, but with his pitch count elevated, he walked Roberto Perez to lead off the top of the eighth, and his night was over.

Evan Marshall was effective for the second straight night, stranding that inherited runner and retiring all three men he faced in the eighth. Liam Hendriks also did his job for the Sox, working a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

But when extra innings began, the Sox had already used two of their best relievers, because Giolito didn't go as deep in the game as Bieber.

Garrett Crochet (0-2) came out to work the 10th, and with his diminished velocity, he was bad. He couldn't field his position. We all know the man-on-second-to-start-the-inning rule was in effect, and Crochet flubbed a comebacker off the bat of Josh Naylor. Just like that, Cleveland had runners on the corners, and there was real trouble coming.

After Yu Chang flew out to shallow right, Roberto Perez had an RBI infield single, and Amed Rosario added an RBI double to make it 2-0 Cleveland.

It could have been worse. The Indians had runners at second and third with only one out when Matt Foster relieved Crochet. The Sox right-hander stranded those runners to give his team a fighting chance.

Moncada started the inning as the automatic runner at second base, and he would not score. Nick Williams, batting in the fifth spot for some reason, struck out against James Karinchak. Yasmani Grandal grounded out, and Jake Lamb flew out to the wall in right field, narrowly missing a game-tying homer, to end the game.

Tough loss for the Sox, who are 5-6, but have yet to have a starting pitcher suffer a loss. In the 60-game 2020 season, the Sox bullpen took 10 losses. In the first 11 games of 2021, the Sox bullpen has lost six times.

I'm thinking maybe they should use a more veteran guy when they get to extra innings. Crochet has been called on in that situation twice. The rookie has lost twice.