The Guardians and White Sox just spent seven games trading punches, and the numbers tell the story of a division race that’s been too tight to breathe through.
Chicago won four of the first seven meetings, and the margin across the whole stretch was razor-thin: the White Sox outscored Cleveland 29-27. Six of the seven games were decided by one run, and the other was settled by two.
That’s exactly the kind of series Stephen Vogt was talking about after Sunday’s 7-6 White Sox win at Progressive Field, which flipped the AL Central lead back to Chicago by a game.
“That’s what happens when you have two evenly matched teams,” said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. “They’re good and so are we.”
The two clubs first met on June 22 at Rate Field with Cleveland holding a one-game edge. Seven games later, the White Sox had the same slim advantage.
And they’re not done with each other yet. The teams still have six more head-to-head matchups left - three at Rate Field from Aug. 7 through Aug. 9 and three at Progressive Field from Sept. 14 through Sept.
The White Sox made their presence felt with the long ball. They hit 10 homers to Cleveland’s six, with Randal Grichuk, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery each going deep twice.
Chicago also owned the double column, 14-6, led by Tristan Peters and Branden Montgomery with three apiece. Travis Bazzana had two doubles for the Guardians.
At the plate overall, the teams were nearly dead even. Chicago hit .238 as a group, going 57 for 240, while Cleveland finished at .235, 56 for 238. The Guardians, though, were better in the biggest spots, batting .232 with runners in scoring position compared with Chicago’s .188.
Vargas was one of the series’ most productive hitters, batting .320 (8 for 25) with two doubles, two homers, five RBI and a 1.078 OPS. Cleveland rookie Kahlil Watson, promoted from Triple-A Columbus on June 16, hit .292 (7 for 24) with one homer and a team-high seven RBI in the seven games.
The Guardians also left too many chances on the table. They stranded 62 runners against Chicago, while the White Sox left 48.
Three of the seven games ended in walk-off fashion, and a fourth was decided in Cleveland’s last at-bat even though the Guardians were the visiting team. On June 22, Sam Antonacci delivered a two-out, two-run walk-off single off Cade Smith after Smith entered in the eighth with Cleveland trailing 4-3 and later blew a 5-4 lead in the ninth. Smith took the loss.
Two nights later, the Guardians grabbed a 4-3 win in 10 innings after Smith, the MLB leader in saves, gave up back-to-back two-out homers to Grichuk and Branden Montgomery in the ninth to erase a 3-1 lead. Watson won it with a 10th-inning single, and Shawn Armstrong finished off the scoreless frame.
Back in Cleveland, Brayan Rocchio changed the game Thursday with a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole in the ninth, turning a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 win. Then on Friday, Watson came through again, lining a single through the middle to score Steven Kwan for a 4-3 victory in the 10th.
The starting pitching also tilted Chicago’s way in this stretch. Cleveland’s rotation, which has used the same five starters since Opening Day, went 0-1 with a 4.58 ERA in the seven games. The Guardians are second in the league with 505 innings pitched, while the White Sox rotation has the fewest at 434.
Messick was Cleveland’s best starter in the series, posting a 2.13 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings, but the Guardians lost both of his starts. Gavin Williams worked 9 2/3 innings over two starts, one of them shortened by rain. Tanner Bibee had one strong outing and one rough one, while Slade Cecconi gave up five runs on nine hits in five innings in his lone start.
Chicago’s starters went 2-0 with a 2.83 ERA. Chris Murphy and Erick Fedde each handled one of the starts in an opener-bulk setup, while Sean Burke allowed two runs in 12 1/3 innings across two starts and Anthony Kay gave up one run in 10 innings over his two turns.
The bullpens brought their own chaos. Smith, Cleveland’s top closer, went 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA, allowing four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
He took a loss, blew a save and surrendered two homers. On the other side, Sean Newcomb entered the series with one save and finished it 0-1 with two saves in four appearances, allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings for a 1.69 ERA.
Both teams did this without key pieces. The Guardians played all seven games without Jose Ramirez, who has a left hand injury, and Angel Martinez, who is dealing with a left foot injury.
The White Sox were missing Munetaka Murakami because of a strained right hamstring. Murakami is hitting .240 (48 for 200) with 20 homers and 41 RBI.
Chicago also has 13 other players on the injured list, while the Guardians have only Ramirez and Martinez.
On Saturday night, Parker Messick, Cade Smith and Bazzana were named to the AL All-Star team for Cleveland, while Vargas was the lone White Sox selection. All four players were elected by their peers.
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