Guardians get walked off in Windy City

The Windy City turned into Heartbreak City for the Guardians on June 22 as the White Sox rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in a 6-5 loss for Cleveland.

Cleveland’s stopper Cade Smith could not get the final three outs as Cleveland lost its second straight game and the first of a three-game showdown between the AL Central’s best teams. The Guardians lost the final game of a 3-games series with Houston, 2-1, on June 21.
Cleveland rallied from 3-0 and 4-3 deficits only to get walked off in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-run single off Chicago left fielder Sam Antonacci in the loss to the White Sox.
Cleveland dropped to 41-38 with the loss while Chicago improved to 40-37. In the highly anticipated showdown for first place, a smallish crowd of 23,151 showed up to watch the contest. The teams are tied for the division lead.
Cade Smith dropped 2-1 with the loss. Gavin Williams started for the Guardians and allowed two earned runs over five innings on five hits while striking out 8.
I watched the top of the first inning. Cleveland loaded the bases but could not score against Chicago starter Anthony Kay. Cleveland had chances to score but was just 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. That has been a huge problem for the offense all season; clutch hitting is not in the team’s DNA to this point.

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