White Sox fall to Indians in 10 innings
Homers by Jose Abreu and James McCann against Shane Bieber and seven strong innings by Lucas Giolito carried the Sox for a while, but the Indians rallied to win.
Although manager Rick Renteria downplayed it beforehand, this game against the Indians was extra-special. It was the White Sox’ first on ‘‘Sunday Night Baseball’’ in seven years.
A Shane Bieber vs. Lucas Giolito matchup was a made-for-TV matchup, as well.
“Playing Sunday night on ESPN, it was my first time doing that,” Giolito said. “I’m going against Bieber, who is probably the best pitcher in the American League right now. Just feeling that energy despite not having fans. . . . I wish we would have won.”
The game featured extra innings and turned into something extra-wet. It was the Sox’ first venture into the new format with a runner on second base opening the 10th with no outs, but there was no special finish for the Sox, who lost 5-4.
Pinch hitter Delino DeShields squeezed home Jose Ramirez from third with the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, and Mike Freeman singled in the second run against Jimmy Cordero to give the Indians a 5-3 lead.
The Sox got one back in the bottom half on catcher James McCann’s RBI single against drenched lefty Brad Hand. With pinch runner Ryan Goins on second and Danny Mendick (walk) on first, the umpires could wait no longer trying to get this one in and brought out the tarp. After a 46-minute delay, Leury Garcia popped out and Yoan Moncada struck out against Oliver Perez to drop the Sox to 8-8 and improve the Indians to 10-7.
“This one hurts a little bit because these guys battled back,” Renteria said.
It wasn’t exactly lights-out pitching, but it was good pitching, and very good in Giolito’s case in the second half of an outing that included five walks. He struck out the side in his last inning, the seventh, and retired the last 11 Indians he faced, including seven of his nine K’s.
After allowing two runs in the third, ending his streak of 22⅓ scoreless innings against the Indians, Giolito “took it to another level,” McCann said.
Bieber, who allowed three runs in six innings, had been the best pitcher in baseball, taking a 3-0 record and an ERA of 0.83 into the game. But designated hitter Jose Abreu and McCann hit solo home runs in the first and sixth innings, and Yasmani Grandal drove in a go-ahead run with an RBI double shortly after McCann’s homer.
“The big thing was not trying to do too much,’’ McCann said. ‘‘[Bieber] has good stuff and gets a lot of chases. My goal was not to chase and keep him in the strike zone.’’
Evan Marshall gave up the lead on a two-out RBI double by Franmil Reyes in the eighth. Marshall, riding a streak of 17⅔ innings without allowing a run dating to last season, struck out Ramirez and Francisco Lindor to open the inning before he walked Carlos Santana, who trucked home with the tying run.
It was the Sox’ first appearance on ESPN’s ‘‘Sunday Night Baseball’’ since May 2013 against the Angels when Chris Sale threw a one-hitter in a 3-0 victory in Chicago.
The Sox lost two of three from the Indians for the second time.
“We stand well [against the Indians], but losses like this are tough,” Giolito said. “All we can do is learn from it and take care of business on the next trip.”
The Sox begin a three-game series against the Tigers in Detroit on Monday.
“A hard-fought game,” McCann said. “And not coming out on top does hurt, but we have to find a way to get some wins in Detroit.”