Cleveland fought back to forge a tie game in the ninth inning, but was ultimately undone by its most glaring weakness all season: defense. An error by Mike Aviles opening the ninth led to a walk-off single by Moises Sierra, as the Tribe was swept by the White Sox with a 3-2 loss Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
The White Sox started the winning rally against Bryan Shaw when Aviles, who entered as a pinch-runner in the eighth and took over third base, scooped up Tyler Flowers’ grounder to third and threw it in the dirt. Pinch-runner Leury Garcia stole second, advanced to third on Marcus Semien’s flyout to right and scored on Sierra’s liner to right.
“Routine ground ball, play that’s gotta be made, and I didn’t make it,” Aviles said. “I mean, usually make it, I’d say almost every time. But, for whatever reason, I threw the ball and didn’t have anything behind it. Just messed it up, I guess.”
With Aviles’ error and the ensuing rally, a 10-game stretch that at first looked promising hit rock bottom. After sweeping first-place Detroit at home and splitting a four-game set with Baltimore, the Tribe looked mostly flat against the White Sox.
The Indians scored just five runs in the three-game set, and Aviles’ error wasn’t the first in the series that led to damaging runs. A two-out error by Lonnie Chisenhall on Monday opened the door for a three-run homer in a 6-2 series-opening loss. Wednesday’s tough loss, meanwhile, put the Tribe (24-30) six games under .500, matching the low-water mark for the season.
“That’s baseball. Two steps forward, two steps back,” said designated hitter Jason Giambi. “This game is tough. It’s not easy. Sometimes you get momentum. Sometimes you fall back. The biggest thing is we have to keep our heads up and keep playing baseball. It’ll come around. You just hope that you don’t fall too far behind.”
Down to their final strike, the Indians clawed back in the ninth. Michael Brantley picked up his second hit of the night to lead off the inning and reached second on Jason Kipnis’ groundout to first. Kipnis chopped one to Adam Dunn, who stepped on the bag for one but overshot second base on the throw while attempting to complete a double play. Two batters later, Yan Gomes stroked a 2-2 pitch from closer Ronald Belisario into right to score Brantley.
“Even on the road, having it tied is better than being down,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of the late rally. “But when you’re on the road, you’re a mistake away from something. We didn’t convert the first ground ball and we end up — we were on the road. You make a mistake [and] that’s what has a chance of happening.”
Dunn gave the White Sox a brief lead with a sacrifice fly against Cody Allen in the eighth.
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