The Cleveland Guardians just do what they do, and this afternoon, they played the type of ball we’ve seen repeatedly throughout the years. Another strong pitching performance combined with opportune hitting handed Chicago its 20th consecutive series loss and 23rd sweep. If it weren’t for a defensive miscue by Andrés Giménez, this game wouldn’t have even been close.

All of the excitement, if you can call it that, came at the beginning of the contest. The majority of the scoring for both squads unfurled in the first three frames. After that, it was basically the battle of the bullpens. You know, the best-in-AL for the Guardians (2.76 ERA) and the worst (4.90 ERA) for the Sox. Shockingly, though, the Pale Hose arm barn held the Guards to only one run through six innings. It really didn’t matter, though, as the offense couldn’t generate runs to take the lead, anyway.

If you take Lane Thomas out of the equation, Davis Martin’s performance wasn’t terrible. Regrettably, though, we can’t remove the center fielder’s two infield dribblers and the four runs they drove in. The righthander also surrendered a solo shot to Austin Hedges and finished the day with a final line of five runs on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts over three innings of work. His performance since coming back from Tommy John has been good enough, and we will likely see him in the backend of the rotation for 2025.

Left elbow issues and surgery had Guardians starter Matthew Boyd sidelined since June 26, 2023. Traditionally, he’s gotten mauled by the White Sox. But Tim Anderson is long gone, and today Boyd was really pretty good in just his sixth game of the season. Unfortunately, his defense did not help him out at all. The three unearned runs in the third didn’t affect his ERA, but it did let the White Sox believe for a brief moment that they could actually win the game. Boyd allowed only the one earned run on six hits with two walks and nine Ks over 4 1/3 innings.

There was a snapshot of offense for the Good Guys, when they packed the sacks with no one out in the bottom of the third. They cashed in for four runs, three of which were unearned. Corey Julks led off with a base hit, and Luis Robert Jr. was safe on a fielder’s choice after a throwing error by second baseman Giménez. Then Bryan Ramos, who was 2-for-5, loaded the bases with a single. When Andrew Vaughn couldn’t get the job done, Lenyn Sosa knocked an RBI single to center.

Boyd balked Robert home to keep the circus moving along, and then a Miguel Vargas ground out plated Ramos.

To wrap up the frame, Dominic Fletcher smacked a ball off of Boyd’s glove for an infield hit, bringing the score to 5-4, Bad Guys.

The Guardians scored a tally off of Chad Kuhl in the eighth, bumping the score to 6-4. The Good Guys had one last chance to walk it off in the ninth against elite closer Emmanuel Clase. La Pantera hit a single up the middle with one out, but first base is where he stayed, as Ramos and Vaughn both struck out — loss No. 144 in the books.

The White Sox have an off-day tomorrow, and then will resume their quest for history this weekend against the Oakland Athletics.

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