CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Everyone loves a pitcher’s duel. A pair of starters mowing through the lineup setting down their opponents in rapid succession.
Especially after a 2 hour and 55-minute rain delay.
“I saw Johnny (Cueto) when we were warming up and we both gave each other a look. A three-hour rain delay isn’t fun for anybody,” said Guardians starter Shane Bieber. “I said ‘let’s make it a quick one.’ I didn’t mean that quick.”
Indeed, Bieber and Cueto went toe-to-toe on Saturday night at Progressive Field, but Chicago was able to muster just enough offense to edge the Guardians 2-0 in a game that came took 2 hours and 39 minutes, just shy of the length it was put on hold.
“I was trying to knock the mud off my cleats and he was going too quick,” Bieber said of Cueto.
The Guardians couldn’t slow down Cueto, either. The White Sox starter rolled into Progressive Field with a 4-1 record and a 2.47 ERA in his last nine starts. He has made domination look routine, allowing three or fewer runs in 15 of his 16 starts and remained unbeaten (5-0) in nine career starts against Cleveland.
“You don’t want to be impressed during the game because you want to find a way to beat him, but that was a very impressive performance,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said.
Jose Abreu broke the stalemate in the 6th inning with an RBI double to score Luis Robert. Bieber cruised up until then, but when the White Sox finally got to him, the inch he gave was all they needed.
“That was probably the worst pitch I made all night. He’s a good hitter and he’s been doing it for a long time, especially in the central,” Bieber said. I felt like it was the right pitch (slider), just not executed to my liking.”
With the offense unable to string together any hits, Cueto barely broke a sweat.
“Even when he missed, it was either for a purpose or he was just off, down, in,” Francona said.
In a cruel twist, the White Sox, one of the worst defensive teams in baseball by way of committing 72 errors this season benefitted from a blunder by the Guardians to add to their lead.
Josh Harrison's fly out to Will Benson wasn't deep enough to score Elvis Andrus, but Benson’s throw bounced off catcher Luke Maile and he couldn't find the ball, allowing Andrus to race home from third base to make it 2-0.
Josh Naylor’s attempt to fool the runner into staying at third by feigning a cutoff only backfired.
“The way we would’ve liked is for (Josh) Naylor to glance and see. Which he didn’t do,” Francona said. “Then he kind of deked, and I think the only person he deked was Maile. Just got a little ahead of himself.”
Cueto was one-out away from a complete-game shutout, but White Sox manager Tony La Russa opted to pull his starter after 113 pitches and avoid Oscar Gonzalez with a runner on in ninth inning.
Gonzalez was the only Guardian to tag Cueto, notching two of Cleveland’s hits with a single and a double. But he was struck out by Liam Hendricks to end the game.
NOTES – Francona said catcher Austin Hedges, who left Friday night’s game with a sprained right ankle was available to play. The catcher injured his ankle when he slid into the dugout and felt a pop in his ankle.
Hedges petitioned Francona to start but the skipper opted for an extra day of rest to preserve his health.
Bryan Lavastida was in Cleveland in case a move was needed, but Francona said Lavastida would be sent back to Double-A Akron to save a roster move.
