CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Guardians are in wait and see mode concerning starter Aaron Civale.
Civale was pulled after the first inning and sent for an MRI Wednesday evening after experiencing right wrist soreness. He allowed a pair of hits and registered a strikeout before the bullpen took over and five relievers combined to finish the game, a 2-1 loss to the White Sox.
“We don’t have the results back yet,” manager Terry Francona said. “We don’t know right now.”
Chicago starter Lucas Giolito scattered five hits and was charged with an unearned run in 6 1/3 innings to earn his sixth win of the season.
“Boy, he’s pitched well against us,” Francona said. “Coming in he hadn’t quite been…there had been some home runs and not quite the command, but we didn’t see that. He’s pitched really well against us.”
Chicago climbed within a half game of Cleveland for second place in the AL Central standings at 43-45 while the Guardians fell below .500 at 43-44 but the concern rests with the test results for Civale.
“I think he has felt it for a little bit,” Francona said of the wrist injury.
Civale isn’t the only injury concern following the game.
Backup catcher Luke Maile took a foul ball off the front of his facemask in the top of the ninth but he remained in the game to complete the inning.
“[We’re] A little worried about him,” Francona said. “He’s being examined by the doctors right now, so we’ll keep an eye on him tonight.
“He was not going to go back out if we tied that game [in the bottom of the ninth]. We were gonna catch Ernie [Clement] and probably take [Emmanuel] Clase out of the game, just because I’m not going to be the one that’s going to talk to his family, that we did something like that.”
Eli Morgan relieved Civale to begin the second inning and struck out a pair without allowing a hit in two frames.
“It was nice. We were all called on for extra work and did our job,” Morgan said. “We’re just ready for that. We’ve got a really good bullpen down there. We’re all capable of throwing extra innings. I think we’re built for it.”
Enyel De Los Santos took over in the fourth and allowed a double in each of the two innings he pitched without allowing a run and he struck out a pair before giving way to Sam Hentges for the sixth.
White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu broke the scoreless deadlock in the top of the sixth with an RBI double off the right field wall scoring Yoan Moncada, who led the inning off with a walk. Andrew Vaughn’s groundout to short allowed a second run to score giving the White Sox a 2-0 lead.
Hentges, who allowed two runs on three hits with a pair of walks and strikeout in 1 1/3 innings, was charged with the loss, dropping him to 2-2 in relief on the season.
“That’s a big ask,” Francona said. “They were so right-handed tonight so that’s a tough ask for Sam, but I thought it was good for Eli. Maybe a little bit of an unexpected [situation], because that was really good to see.”
Cleveland’s only run came in the seventh.
Andres Gimenez, pinch hitting for catcher Austin Hedges with two on and two out, grounded to second, but White Sox second baseman Josh Harrison was unable to field it cleanly or make the throw to first allowing Franmil Reyes, who singled, to score and cut Chicago’s lead in half at 2-1.
Gimenez got the opportunity because Francona won a replay challenge overturning Owen Miller being called out at first on a double play.
Liam Hendriks recorded his 18th save of the season for the White Sox with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
