The Guardians open a seven-game road trip in Chicago on Thursday.

Worst record in the major leagues but beware.
They've improved a LOT the past few weeks.
After a month of "tinkering" around to make up for losses to injury, they've put together a decent lineup.
The most improvement has come from the pitching staff.
Looking beyond the Sox would be a big mistake.
Play'em like they were a contender. Play hard for 9 innings.

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I'm sure they will play every game with the same dedication. Guardians are still far from a perfect team so anything could go wrong. Lack of Kwan is going to hurt some days for certain. And lack of any consistent ace starter will too. I'd gladly take Tigers' winless starter from yesterday off their hands.

game delayed. recorded the Iowa Cubs - Clippers game. goiing to watch the Clips until the Guardian game starts.

Unfortunately record falls to 2-2 vs the miserableSox.
Keys to the game:
Bases loaded no outs in the 7th: Bo strikes out; Freeman strikes out; Manzardo 3rd out.
2 on 1 out in the 5th: Freeman GIDP

There's a good chance we get swept.
Sox have better pitching.
They have better hitters at the bottom of the lineup.
Crochet is good.
Watched quite a few Sox games.
This is not the same team that started the season.
And they have 3 starters on the disabled list.
They're due to return.
That spells trouble.
(In my humble opinion)
We have a terrible lineup vs lefties.
Gotta get Rodriguez up here.

This lineup does suck.
I got a baaaad feeling about this series.
Triple with no outs and fail to get the ball out of the infield
Geeeesh
Crochet is good.
The Sox pitching staff is good
Carrasco has to pitch his best game if we are going to beat Crochet.

Looks like 1 run will win this one.

Hope we've seen the last of Laureano.
Centerfield has been a huge problem.
I don't care if Straw bats zero over the rest of the season.
We need his defense.

I expected this kind of an outing from Crochet.
They have a very good bullpen. Especially their set up guys and the closer, Kopech.
Guards got their work cut out for them.

By far, Cookie's best outing. Too bad. HIs defense let him down.

Look out for those Sox. They will be trouble the rest of the year.

Looks like the Twins just knocked us out of first place.

Like to see Schneemann up for Manzardo. Rodriguez for Laureano

Costly error, lack of clutch hitting equal Guardians’ 6-3 loss to White Sox

Updated: May. 10, 2024, 11:19 p.m.|Published: May. 10, 2024, 9:56 p.m.

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
CHICAGO -- A two-run error by Gabriel Arias and another too-little-too-late performance by the offense did not serve the Guardians well against the last-place team in the AL Central on Friday night.

Arias’ error in the fifth inning turned a scoreless pitching duel between Carlos Carrasco and left-hander Garrett Crochet into a 6-3 loss to the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. Cleveland is 7-9 in its last 16 games and its lead in the Central is down to a half game over the Twins.

Chicago took a 3-0 lead in the fifth thanks to sloppy play by the Guardians.

Carrasco started the inning by striking out Bryan Ramos. Korey Lee followed with a single to right and Paul DeJong singled to left.

Lee went to third and DeJong advanced to second as Will Brennan’s throw skipped past Jose Ramirez at third. Nicky Lopez, with Cleveland’s infield pulled in, sent a routine bouncer to Arias at second base.

It should have been the second out, but Arias took his eye off the ball to see if Lee was coming home. The ball skipped over his glove into right field as Lee and DeJong scored and Lopez went to second. Tommy Pham, who signed with the White Sox as a free agent on April 16, made it 3-0 with a single to left to score Lopez.

Two of Chicago’s runs were unearned that inning.

“I haven’t watched the replay, but that’s what it looked like,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “He may have taken his eyes off the ball to see where the runners was. It was a big play at the moment. Gabey is a phenomenal defender. He just made an error.”

Said Carrasco, whose seven-inning start was his longest of the season, “When that happened, I just forgot about it and went to the next pitch. There’s nothing I can do. Sometimes that’s going to happen in the game.”

For the second straight night the Guardians could do little against a White Sox starter. Erick Fedde held them scoreless for six innings in Thursday’s 3-2 Chicago victory. On Friday, Crochet (3-4, 4.63) was even better.

Crochet struck out a season-high 11, while holding the Guardians scoreless on five hits in six innings.

“That’s the best Crochet has thrown all year, I think,” said Vogt. “He was pounding the zone. He’s been struggling with that and he didn’t tonight. He had everything working.

“Credit to him. We have to do a better job of battling, but at the end of the day I thought we fought back again like we always do. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough.”

Chicago’s rotation entered Friday’s game at 7-17 with the highest ERA in the AL at 5.23.

Carrasco (2-3, 5.36) pitched his way through the fifth and worked a one-two-three sixth. When he went out for the seventh, however, that may have been too big an ask.

He allowed consecutive homers to Lee and DeJong to start the inning and give Chicago a 5-1 lead. It was the first time this season the White Sox have hit consecutive homers.

“Cookie was outstanding tonight,” said Vogt. “He gave us seven great innings. His only two mistakes came in the seventh.”

Carrasco allowed five runs, three earned, on six hits in seven innings. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

The Guardians’ only runs came on homers by Tyler Freeman and Ramirez. Freeman ended an 0 for 10 skid with a leadoff homer off Steven Wilson in the seventh. Freeman’s homer cut Chicago’s lead to 3-1.

Ramirez hit his ninth homer and second in as many games in the eighth to make it 5-3. Dave Fry scored ahead of him after reaching on a one-out double. Ramirez has three homers against Chicago this year and 34 in his career.The White Sox completed the scoring with Andrew Vaughn’s leadoff homer in the eighth off Pedro Avila for a 6-3 lead.

The Guards for the second straight night didn’t hit when it mattered.

Brennan opened the third with a triple, but Crochet struck out Arias and Austin Hedges and retired Brayan Rocchio on a grounder to third.

They wasted a leadoff single by Ramon Laureano in the fifth. In the sixth, Ramirez and Josh Naylor hit consecutive two-out singles, but Crochet struck out Laureano.

They went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. In the first two games of this four-game series, they’re 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

“We just weren’t able to put a ball in play (after Brennan’s triple),” said Vogt. “That stuff happens. Crochet got really good after that. We’ve been pretty good at that this year. When it happens two nights in a row it’s going to get talked about.

“We need to improve, but we’ve been pretty good at that all year.”

Next: RHP Triston McKenzie (2-2, 3.97) vs. RHP Mike Clevinger (0-1, 13.50) Saturday at 7:10 p.m. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM, WMMS and the Guardians radio network will carry the game.


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CONDENSED GAME

https://www.mlb.com/video/condensed-gam ... 0Games&p=0

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I think the experiment of running these guys on the field out of positons should be over. It's nice to be versatile, but some of these players look lost especially in centerfield.

I think its time to promote Straw and stabilize centerfield and the outfield in general.

The two most important positions on the field is shortstop and centerfield. Rocchio's been getting it done defensively but he's not getting it done on offense. Rocchio is NOT a lead off guy and belongs at the bottom of the order where he does his best hitting....from the 9 hole. Stop putting undo pressure on him by having him leadoff!!

Centerfielders simply have not been getting it done., especially on defense. Centerfield was supposed to be an upgrade with more power. It ain't happenin'. We're no better off now than we were with Straw. Straw gets it done defensively. Remember! He is a gold glove outfielder. He's a stabilizing influence for the outfield. If his confidence hasn't been destroyed by now, it's time to get his ass back here.

Laureano?!?! What can I say. Not to disparage the guy, but he's not helping this team....at all!

I'm in the Johnathan Rodriguez camp. So far, he's reached base in every Clipper game except one. He's on another 9 game on-base streak. Can he possibly be worse than Laureano?!?!

Manzardo doesn't look major league ready. So far, from what I've seen, he's being overwhelmed. I guess it is what it is.

Doesn't look like anyone in Columbus is ready for Cleveland except for Rodriguez.

We've got 6 guys hitting under .200. Another at .207. Two more at .240 and .248 ???

It's amazing to me that we are in the position we are in.

We've been pulling rabbits out of the hat so far.

How long can this continue?

The pitchers have excelled and are responsible for where we are today. They have got to continue with the effort.

Cookie tried last night, but the defense let him down. So did the offense failing to come up with the clutch hits which has been the team's trademark.

I think the Sox series so far show us how vulnerable we are as an offensive unit and some change will have to be made soon before the Twins run away with this division.

Chicago’s rotation entered Friday’s game at 7-17 with the highest ERA in the AL at 5.23.

What does that say about our lineups?

Don't let that record fool you though. The Sox have been tinkering with their pitching staff. It looks like they've found some pieces that are working.

Chicago is not the same team that started the season. They also kept moving pieces around on offense all season. It looks like they've found some pieces that will also work for the offense.

I think we tried to do the same. We just don't have all the pieces that are getting the job done on a consistent basis. The proff is in the puddin'. 6 guys hitting under .200. One at .207. Two more at .240 and .248

The next two games are crucial in seeing where we are as a team. We must leave Chicago at 2-2. Being Swept is out of the question. Losing the series is out of the question.

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