The Indians gave a potent White Sox offense an extra out, and starter Josh Tomlin paid the price.
Lonnie Chisenhall’s third-inning error paved the way for a three-run homer by Dayan Viciedo, and Tomlin couldn’t make it out of the fifth as the Tribe dropped the series opener to the White Sox, 6-2, on Monday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field. It was Chisenhall’s third error in three games.
“He’s getting in-between hops,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Sometimes the ball, you know, you get on your heels and the second hop plays you a little bit instead of putting yourself in a position where you come get it.”
The bad defense led to three unearned runs. With two outs in the third, Chisenhall stabbed at Marcus Semien’s grounder but couldn’t come up with it. Conor Gillaspie followed with a single, and Viciedo blasted a 1-2 hanging curve to left for a three-run homer. Both hits came with two strikes.
“That’s on me. I need to do a better job of picking Lonnie up there,” said Tomlin, who has allowed a homer in each of his five starts. “It took a tough hop and I need to come back and make a better pitch to Viciedo right there. … He hit a hanging a curveball. I probably tried to do too much with it. I tried to get it down in the dirt and it slung off a little bit and just kind of cast it and it stayed up in the zone for too long.”
The Indians appeared to be turning the corner on their defensive woes during a 5-2 run entering Monday’s holiday matinee. Chisenhall’s error, on the other hand, was a return to the Tribe’s main bugaboo. Entering play Monday, Cleveland had the worst fielding percentage (.973) and most errors (52) in baseball.
“I hear about it, but we just keep working,” Francona said of his team’s defensive struggles. “Lonnie’s our hardest worker, so we keep working. When you make an error, you can’t go back and take it away. And we have guys that I think have the ability to be good fielders, so we just keep working.”
Francona can only hope the loss didn’t include any further damage. Nick Swisher hurt his left knee running out a grounder in the sixth inning and was later lifted for pinch-hitter David Murphy in the eighth inning. Swisher, who has dealt with right knee issues throughout the season, said a team doctor looked at his left knee and concluded there was no structural damage, and that he’ll know more Tuesday. As for his decision to stay in the game for two more innings following the injury?
“Well, you know, these guys are fighting and I want to be out there fighting with the guys, you know?” Swisher said. “I mean, everybody’s banged up right now, so just going to have to wait till tomorrow to find out what’s going on.”
Designated hitter Carlos Santana, meanwhile, was scratched approximately 20 minutes before first pitch because he was feeling sick. Santana took a foul tip off the mask on Sunday in Baltimore, so the team isn’t sure if Santana was simply under the weather or was dealing with concussion-like symptoms. That forced the Tribe to be cautious and send Santana back to the hotel. He’ll be evaluated Tuesday.
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