White Sox Stumble Despite Sheets' Heroics vs Guardians

The Chicago White Sox were inches away from securing their first series win of the 2024 season on Wednesday, but a pair of squandered scoring chances in the 8th and 9th innings came back to haunt them. Despite a monster day at the plate from Gavin Sheets, the Sox fell 7-6 in extras to the Cleveland Guardians.

Sheets was a one-man wrecking crew, going 3-for-5 with a double, a three-run homer, and 5 RBIs. His performance staked Chicago to an early 5-0 lead after just three innings. However, the Guardians slowly chipped away, getting solo homers from Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor and Bo Naylor to climb back into the game.

In the 8th, Andrew Vaughn led off with a double but failed to score as the next three White Sox hitters went down in order. Then in the 9th, Paul DeJong’s leadoff double and Emmanuel Clase’s error put the go-ahead run just 90 feet away with no outs. But a double play ball off the bat of Brayan Rocchio prevented DeJong from attempting to score, and Lenyn Sosa grounded out to strand him at third.

“The perfect ground ball was hit for the perfect play and it happened,” said manager Pedro Grifol. “I wouldn’t blame DeJong.”

DeJong took responsibility as well, citing his lack of a decent secondary lead as the reason he held at third on the double play ball.

After Sheets’ RBI double in the 10th briefly put the Sox ahead 6-5, Josh Naylor crushed a game-tying double in the bottom half. His younger brother Bo then played the role of hero, lining a walk-off single to right to complete the Guardians’ comeback.

For the White Sox, now 3-10 on the year, it was a brutal way for their fifth one-run loss of the young season to unfold. Their inability to tack on runs despite numerous chances has them still seeking their first series victory.

“Really, really tough loss,” Grifol said. “We’ve played a number of games now where if we tacked on a run or two we would’ve put the game in a [different] place. The games have been tight.”

While the White Sox lean on Gavin Sheets and others to stay afloat amidst key injuries, the slugger is doing his part. He’s now batting .390 with 4 homers and 15 RBIs through the first 13 games.

“I’m just taking more aggressive swings, probably more than I ever have in my career,” Sheets said. “I’m just trying to feed off that. Last year, I felt like I was lost.”

If the Sox are going to start stacking some wins, they’ll need to start cashing in consistently when opportunities arise late in games. Otherwise, moral victories and phenomenal individual performances will be all they’re left with.