Lance Lynn gets back on track against weak-hitting Cleveland Guardians

Lance Lynn

White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn has had a terrible start to the 2023 season. 

Coming into Tuesday's game against the Cleveland Guardians, Lynn was 1-5 with a 7.51 ERA and a 1.602 WHIP in eight starts. Opponents had a .420 batting average against him while he was pitching out of the stretch. Ouch. 

However, the Guardians have been one of the weakest offenses in the American League so far this season. Among the 15 AL teams, Cleveland ranked 14th in runs scored (142) and dead last in batting average (.228), slugging percentage (.342) and OPS (.645) before Tuesday's game.

Lynn had a chance to get back on track against a slumping opponent, and he did just that. He pitched seven-plus innings to pick up the victory as the Sox beat the Guardians, 8-3, at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Through seven innings, Lynn (2-5) allowed only one earned run before he got dinged for a couple of unearned runs in the eighth. His final line: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 7 Ks, 0 BBs.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Sox scored six two-out runs against Cleveland ace Shane Bieber (3-2). All the runs against Bieber were unearned, after Luis Robert Jr. started the lengthy rally by reaching base on catcher's interference.

On a hit-and-run play, Robert Jr. scored from first base on a single by Yoan Moncada. After a single by Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets hit his fifth home run of the season -- a 3-run shot to make it 4-0.

After Yasmani Grandal singled, Jake Burger's two-run homer made it 6-0. Burger has homered in each of the two games he's played in since returning from the injured list. He ranks second on the Sox with nine homers.

The Sox home run leader? That would be Robert Jr., who capped the scoring with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth -- his 12th home run of the year.

Robert Jr. has homered in four straight games. The last Sox player to do that was Matt Davidson, from June 12-15, 2017.

In a roster move before the game, pitcher Garrett Crochet was activated off the injured list, and pitcher Nicholas Padilla was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. Crochet missed all of the 2022 season after Tommy John surgery. He gives the Sox another left-handed option in the bullpen.

The Sox are 15-28. The Guardians are 19-22.

Yankees beat Guardians in Game 5, advance to ALCS

Giancarlo Stanton

So, did Monday night's postponement of Game 5 of the American League Division Series help the New York Yankees? Perhaps.

The Yankees scored four runs in the first two innings Tuesday afternoon and went on to beat the Cleveland Guardians, 5-1, in the deciding game of the best-of-five series.

One thing is for certain: The rain opened the door for each manager to change his pitching plans, and the Yankees took advantage.

Had the game been played Monday night, we would have seen a matchup of No. 4 starters -- Jameson Taillon for the Yankees and Aaron Civale for the Guardians.

But given the extra day of rest, New York manager Aaron Boone brought back his No. 2 starter, Nestor Cortes, on three days' rest to pitch Game 5. Cleveland manager Terry Francona could have used his ace, Shane Bieber, but he opted to stick with Civale.

That decision by Francona backfired immediately. Civale recorded only one out before being knocked out of the game. He walked Gleyber Torres, hit Anthony Rizzo with a pitch and surrendered a 3-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton.

Four batters into the bottom of the first inning, the Yankees had a 3-0 lead, and the game was effectively over.

Cortes held up his end of the bargain, tossing five innings of one-run ball. Three New York relievers combined for four shutout innings to close it out, leaving Cleveland to wonder what might have been had it used Bieber in this game.

The Yankees, who won 99 games in the regular season, will take on the 106-win Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series, starting Wednesday. 

No surprise to see those two teams meet at this stage of the playoffs. All summer long, it's been the Astros, Yankees and everyone else in the AL. They've been on a collision course, and now they'll collide.

White Sox finish 'make-or-break' stretch with a 10-9 record

Dylan Cease

The White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field to salvage a split in a four-game series.

Dylan Cease (10-4) got the win with six innings of shutout ball. Leury Garcia and AJ Pollock homered off Cleveland starter Shane Bieber (4-6) as part of a five-run second inning, and Eloy Jimenez also homered for the Sox.

The game completed what was described as a "crucial, make-or-break" 19-game stretch during which the Sox saw nothing but American League Central Division opponents.

Turns out, the Sox went 10-9 during those 19 games. When this stretch started, the Sox were 4.5 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins. Today, they are 4.0 games behind the Twins. 

In other words, nothing has changed, really. That's on brand for this 2022 Sox team.

The Sox are neither "made" nor "broken" after this "make-or-break" stretch. They are simply stuck in neutral, spinning their wheels, as they have all season. They have been a .500 team, and they have the 48-48 record to prove it. 

And they've been a .500 team during these divisional games. They are doing enough to stay within striking distance of the division lead, but they haven't made anything resembling a strong push, either.

Cease, however, has been ridiculously good. Over his last 11 starts, he's allowed a grand total of three earned runs. 

Only twice in baseball history has a pitcher allowed only three earned runs in an 11-start span. Hall of Famer Bob Gibson did it in 1968, and now Cease. That's it. Nobody else.

Cease leads the AL in strikeouts with 154. His ERA is 2.03. If it said "New York" or "Boston" across his chest, he'd probably be getting more Cy Young hype. At the very least, he would have received an All-Star Game selection.

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.

Quit the World Series talk; the White Sox need to find a way to win a game

There's a headline on whitesox.com right now that reads, "White Sox vision: Win the whole thing." 

Good grief. 

Cleveland's offense stinks, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The Sox are the best team in the AL Central, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The Sox are legitimate championship contenders right now, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Just shut up. 

The Sox have won absolutely nothing so far, and I'm not convinced they will win anything. They've now lost four out of five games since they clinched a postseason bid last Thursday, and they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory Tuesday.

The Sox were one strike away from a 3-2 win against the Indians, but instead, Jose Ramirez hit a three-run homer off Jose Ruiz to lift the Indians to a 5-3 victory over the Sox in 10 innings.

Yes, you read that right. Ruiz, the 14th man on a 14-man pitching staff, a fringe player who has been at the alternate site in Schaumburg for most of the season, was the reliever summoned to try to get out Cleveland's best hitter with the AL Central title possibly at stake.

To the surprise of nobody, Ramirez launched a center-cut 2-2 fastball into the seats in right-center field to end the game.

If the Sox close that out, the Indians are five games out with five to go, and you could basically leave them for dead. Instead, they are three games out, and they have their two best pitchers -- Shane Bieber and Zach Plesac -- set to go against the Sox the next two days. We better hope Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel can match them, or else the Indians will be within one with three to play by the time Thursday night rolls around.

Did we mention the Indians close the season with three games against the MLB-worst Pittsburgh Pirates?

Yes, Cleveland is still very much alive in the division race, and the Sox have nobody to blame but themselves. The Sox also have destiny in their own hands. They really just need to win one of the next two to turn the Indians away.

How about focusing on that instead of the World Series, boys?

And, oh yeah, the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4, on Tuesday night. That means the second-place Twins are only a half-game behind now. 

The Sox could be out of first place by Wednesday evening if they can't find a win against Bieber, the AL's best pitcher. 

What a mess. The Sox have played themselves into a dangerous position. Typical of this stupid organization that talks a much better game than it plays. 

An important September series at Guaranteed Rate Field ... for Cleveland

Mike Clevinger

With one week remaining in the regular season, the closest playoff race is in the American League.

Three teams are fighting for the two wild card spots, with Oakland (94-62) holding a two-game lead for the first spot over Tampa Bay (92-64) and Cleveland (92-64), which are in a dead heat for the final playoff berth entering Monday's games.

I think the A's are going to secure home-field advantage in that wild card game this week. Their six remaining games are all on the road, but they are against the bottom two teams in the AL West. Oakland plays two against the Los Angeles Angels and four at Seattle. A 3-3 record this week should be good enough for the A's. They'll manage.

The battle between Tampa Bay and Cleveland is much more interesting. I think the Rays are the better team, but based on strength of schedule, the Indians have a slight edge in this race.

Mainly, that edge involves Cleveland getting a chance to play three games against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field from Tuesday through Thursday.

To be fair to the Sox, they have more than held their own against the Tribe this season. Chicago owns a 9-7 edge in the season series. However, the pitching matchups this week strongly favor Cleveland:

Tuesday: Mike Clevinger (12-3, 2.54 ERA) vs. Hector Santiago (0-1, 5.23 ERA)
Wednesday: Shane Bieber (15-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Ross Detwiler (2-5, 6.98 ERA)
Thursday: Aaron Civale (3-3, 1.82 ERA) vs. Dylan Cease (4-7, 5.79 ERA)

The first two games of the series, the Indians are throwing starting pitchers who will get Cy Young votes. The Sox are throwing starting pitchers who are lucky they are still in baseball. It will be Thursday before the Sox use a pitcher who could make the game interesting, and even then, the rookie Cease is no sure bet.

Meanwhile, the Rays are playing the Boston Red Sox on Monday night. They then will host the AL East champion New York Yankees on Tuesday and Wednesday before an off day Thursday.

So, between now and Thursday, the Indians have a golden opportunity to seize the lead in this race.

Once we get to the weekend, the schedule tilts back in Tampa Bay's favor, as it will go on the road to face also-ran Toronto, while Cleveland travels to Washington. The Nationals still are fighting to secure home-field advantage in the NL wild card race, so they likely will have something to play for.

From the Sox perspective, it sure would be nice to play spoiler against the rival Indians, but if we're making an honest assessment of the situation, the Sox would be fortunate to take one out of three in this series.