Guardians on the losing end of another one-run game against White Sox

CLEVELAND — The series finale between the Guardians and White Sox was played appropriately Sunday afternoon at Progressive Field. It just didn't have the ending the home team would have preferred. The top two teams in the Central Division battled back and forth in another one-run game before Chicago scored once in the fifth inning of Cleveland's 7-6 loss. The White Sox have won four of seven head-to-head meetings this year, leaving town in first place with a one-game lead. Of the seven matchups, six have been decided by a run, and the other was Cleveland's 3-1 loss Saturday. "These are two very evenly matched teams. We may be made up a little bit differently, but they're really good and so are we," manager Stephen Vogt said. "We showed that this weekend. I think it's really exciting to think about how the rest of the year's going to play out." "Obviously, they're a good team," said Cleveland's starting pitcher Tanner Bibee. "They're scrappy, they're young and obviously they're playing some good baseball right now." The Guardians could have used one of Bibee's best outings of the season in a big game but instead got one of his worst. The right-hander allowed six runs and three homers within the first three innings and lasted only four innings in his shortest start since May 25. He surrendered a two-run homer to Kyle Teel in the first, a solo shot to Tristan Peters in the second and another two-run shot to Colson Montgomery in the third that gave Chicago a 6-3 lead. Cleveland returned fire with a two-run homer from Chase DeLauter in the first. It was the first of his career off a left-hander and his first since May 17. After going deep four times within the first three games of his career, DeLauter has only four more homers — three since April 3. "Anytime you get one of those, it feels great," said DeLauter, who is batting .333 (12-for-36) with three doubles, a homer and seven RBIs in eight games since leaving the injured list. "I think since coming back, the main goal's been just trying to put the bat on the ball as hard as possible, whatever happens, happens. And I don't get many off lefties, so that was nice." "He's been swinging the bat well and he's starting to learn how he's being pitched. It was really good to see him turn on that fastball," Vogt said. Gabriel Arias hit the first pitch he saw from Erick Fedde an estimated 446 feet to left-center to tie the game at 6 in the fifth. It was the longest homer of his career and the longest by a Cleveland player at the park since Jhonkensy Noel (450 feet) on May 1 last year against the Twins. "Gabby can hit. He got a mistake and didn't miss it," Vogt said. "I thought we battled all day. I thought we answered right away. The guys swung the bats really well today. I thought our at-bats were phenomenal." Not after the fifth. The Guardians had only one hit over the final four innings, a pinch-hit single from Brayan Rocchio in the sixth. Arias and pinch hitter Rhys Hoskins struck out to end the game, Arias on three pitches, after DeLauter grounded to second to start the ninth. The White Sox scored the winning run off Colin Holderman, who didn't retire any of the three batters he faced. Rain delayed the first pitch by an hour and 27 minutes. A 2:30 p.m. start time was announced, then moved back when it took another hour to prepare the field. Water on the warning track in center field was the major issue. Both managers met with umpires in the outfield on multiple occasions before play began. "Today was really unfortunate," Vogt said. "We needed more time than we anticipated to get the track ready. When I walked out there, it was not ready. We could not send players safely out on the field. It was just unfortunate that Tanner had already warmed up. I definitely think it affected him. Anytime you have to stay warm for an hour and a half, it's going to be difficult, but I thought he battled." Bibee said he did his best to stay ready after originally warming up. "It's kind of the tricky part. You don't want to do too much, but you obviously want to keep yourself hot, and throwing obviously isn't something you can do all day," he said. "So, it's kind of just trying to stay hot while not doing too much. So, I guess it's the happy medium." The next round of the battle between division rivals takes place in Chicago on July 7-9 before the teams meet for the final time in the regular season, Sept. 14-16 in Cleveland. "This is a team we're going to see again a handful more times," DeLauter said. "So, we always know at the end of the season you might look back and need a game or two. I think we go out there, treat every game like it's a playoff game and we'll look up at the end of the year and be happy with where we're at." Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.