CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Guardians were able to get Logan Allen off the hook but couldn’t complete the comeback Tuesday night.
The Chicago White Sox broke a 5-5 tie by scoring a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to retake the lead and end Cleveland’s five-game win streak with a 7-5 victory at Progressive Field.
Here’s our top news, notes and quotes from Tuesday.
Rough start – Guardians starter Logan Allen had a forgettable first inning that saw the first five White Sox batters reach and score. “They jumped him early,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “I thought he had a couple, two strike hits that he gave up in that first inning, but really settled in... I mean they were really aggressive. Got into him early in counts. To get his composure, come back and get us four innings the way he did it was really big of him. It's easy to crumble after you get hit around a little bit early. So credit to him for turning that around.” Here’s how it went: Robbie Grossman walked, Yoan Moncada singled to right, Lenyn Sosa double to left scoring Grossman, Andrew Vaughn singled to right scoring Moncada, Korey Lee singled to right scoring Sosa before Kevin Pillar doubled to left scoring Vaughn and Lee to make it 5-0. Allen would settle in and retire 12 of the next 15 batters giving Cleveland a chance to climb back into the game. “I had a rough first inning, but settled in,” Allen said. “Just try to go up there and try to put up with zeros. I know the boys will keep us in it. Big shout out to them for getting us back in the game, making us interesting. But yeah, five runs in the first. Can't do it. Not good enough.”
Streak snapped – Cleveland’s bullpen saw their scoreless streak snapped at 14 1/3 innings in the eighth inning Tuesday night. Dominic Fletcher, who came on in the sixth for Chicago in center field, delivered a two run double off Guardians reliever Scott Barlow to give the White Sox a 7-5 lead. Fletcher was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple but the damage was done.
Nayl-ed it – Josh Naylor cut into Chicago’s lead with a two out, two-run homer to right on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first. It was Naylor’s second home run of the season. Naylor is hitting .350 with 13 doubles, five home runs, 27 RBI and a .545 sugging percentage in 39 career games against Chicago.
Getting even – Tyler Freeman drove home the third run of the night for the Guardians with an RBI single in the bottom of the third to left scoring Jose Ramirez. Ramirez tied the game at 5 with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth after Steven Kwan plated the fourth run with a single to left scoring Ramon Laureano, who was hit by a pitch and stole second and third base. “I loved it,” Vogt said of erasing the early defict. “I mean, that's what this team does. We fight, these guys never quit. I think somebody said, [maybe] Hedgie [Austin Hedges] in the first inning, we were down 5-0, he goes, ‘We're winning this game.’ And everybody's like, ‘hell yeah, of course we are.’ That was the mentality. It was not, oh no, what are we going to do? And [we] came back and Nayls got us right back on the board, punched him back. So couldn't be more proud of the way our guys fought back tonight.”
Multi hit star – Leadoff hitter Steven Kwan recorded his American league leading seventh multi hit game of the season Tuesday. Kwan also leads baseball with 20 hits through 11 games, the most by a Cleveland hitter since Manny Ramirez had 21 to start the 1999 season.
Moncado down – White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada collapsed short of the bag as he ran out a groundout to third in the top of the second inning. Moncada, who suffered a left aductor strain, was helped off the field after being tended to for a few minutes. Sosa moved from second to third base and Nicky Lopez came on to play second base and hit second in the lineup.
Long fuse – Vogt isn’t one for going after umpires. “I don't think I'll get run a lot,” Vogt said. “I mean I'm sure it's going to happen at some point, but I do have a temper, but it's a pretty long fuse.” While the Guardians manager may try to avoid saying the magic words to be sent to an early shower it also doesn’t mean he won’t fight for his players if he sees a missed call. But the arguing will be something he has to get used to. “It's a lot more fun than screaming from the dugout, but no, it is weird,” Vogt said. “It is weird. I'm like, oh, that's me that has to go do that. I still kind of catch myself from time to time.”
Up next – Series finale vs. the White Sox Wednesday at 6:10 p.m. Erick Fedde (0-0, 2.79 ERA) vs. Tanner Bibee (1-0, 3.86 ERA).
