Guardians drop slugfest to White Sox as AL Central race picks up steam

CLEVELAND — The Guardians have played the White Sox often enough recently to get quite familiar with the rival whom they are battling for first place in the AL Central. You may have a similar takeaway as that inside the Cleveland clubhouse.

“They’re, I think, a decently comparable team to us,” Guardians first baseman Kyle Manzardo said. “They’re gritty. There’s a lot of tough outs in that order. Their pitching, they match up pretty good.”

Cleveland knows it’s in for a battle this summer as it pushes for a third consecutive division crown. The Guardians lost, 7-6, to the White Sox on Sunday in the finale of a four-game series at Progressive Field.

Chicago (47-42) now holds a one-game lead on Cleveland (47-44) in the AL Central standings and in the head-to-head season series, which would serve as the first tiebreaker if one is needed down the road.

Six of the seven matchups between the Guardians and White Sox this season (all of which have come over the past two weeks) have been determined by a single run.

“These are two very evenly matched teams,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “Obviously, maybe made up a little bit differently, but they’re really good and so are we.”

The White Sox are built on a lineup that entered Sunday ranked 10th in MLB in runs per game (4.78). The Guardians’ backbone is their rotation; they are the only team in the Majors to have used just five starting pitchers this season.

Those forces collided Sunday, under some unfortunate circumstances for Cleveland. The White Sox scored six runs off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, who surrendered three home runs over four innings. His outing followed a weather delay of 1 hour and 27 minutes that impacted his pregame routine.

“Today was really unfortunate,” Vogt said.

Sunday’s game had a scheduled 2:05 p.m. ET first pitch, before the game was delayed by rain and ensuing unplayable field conditions. Vogt noted a passing cell hit the ballpark harder than anticipated.

Initially, the post-delay first pitch was targeted for 2:30, but the outfield warning track took on water and required extensive work by the Guardians’ grounds crew. First pitch was ultimately at 3:30 p.m. Bibee had to find a way to stay warm as he waited.

“You don’t want to do too much,” said Bibee, who entered the day with a 2.20 ERA in 39 1/3 innings over his previous six starts. “But you obviously want to keep yourself hot, and throwing obviously isn’t something you can do all day. So it’s kind of just trying to stay hot while not doing too much, I guess. The happy medium.”

Bibee allowed a two-run homer to Kyle Teel in the first. He allowed a solo home run to Tristan Peters in the second and a three-run shot to Colson Montgomery in the third.

“I definitely think it affected him,” Vogt said of the delay. “Anytime you have to stay warm for an hour and a half after you started [getting hot], it’s going to be difficult. But I thought he battled.”

So did the Guardians’ lineup, though it came up short.

Chase DeLauter hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the first. His first home run since May 17 went a Statcast-projected 425 feet. It was the first of his career against a lefty.

Gabriel Arias delivered a game-tying three-run shot off Erick Fedde in the fifth that went a Statcast-projected 446 feet. It marked the longest home run of Arias’ career and the second longest by a Guardians player this season — behind Manzardo’s 454-foot blast on April 10.

Chicago took the lead in the sixth, when it loaded the bases with nobody out against reliever Colin Holderman. Erik Sabrowski entered and limited the damage to one run, on a Sam Antonacci RBI fielder’s choice. Manzardo fielded the ground ball and had a potential play at home plate, but he took the sure out at first base after he had trouble getting the ball out of his glove.

The Guardians are 8-11 without José Ramírez (left hamate fracture), who is progressing but remains on the injured list with Angel Martínez (non-displaced left foot fracture). The next time these teams meet (Aug. 7-9 at Rate Field), Cleveland will hope to have Ramírez and Martínez back.

Their presence could be crucial when the stretch run looms.

“We always know at the end of the season you might look back and need a game or two,” DeLauter said. “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 where we’re at.”