McAllister Struggles, Offense Quiet in 3-2 Loss to White Sox

Zach McAllister had a rough day on the mound and the Indians’ offense remained stuck in neutral Wednesday afternoon as the White Sox beat the Indians, 3-2, to force a tie in the rain-shortened two-game series at U.S. Cellular Field.

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It didn’t take long for Chicago hitters to get to McAllister—14 pitches, to be exact. Alejandro De Aza worked his way back from a 1-2 count to lead off the bottom of the first with a walk. Two pitches later he stole second, and Jeff Keppinger promptly brought him home with an RBI single to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead. Keppinger was involved with another scoring play in the fifth, when Alex Rios drove him in with a two-out two-run homer to put Chicago up 3-0.

Meanwhile, Jose Quintana took a perfect game into the fourth inning against the Tribe. The Indians wasted a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the fourth before finally getting on the board in the sixth. A Drew Stubbs walk and a Michael Brantley base hit put runners at the corners with nobody out, and Jason Kipnis‘ RBI single and Mark Reynolds‘ sacrifice fly made it a one-run game. Kipnis then stole second and third in the span of three pitches to bring the tying run 90 feet away, but he was stranded at third after Nick Swisher struck out and Ryan Raburn flew out to end the inning.

That was all for the scoring on either side. Rich Hill, Bryan Shaw, Nick Hagadone, and Joe Smith combined to throw 2.1 scoreless and hitless innings for the Tribe, while Nate Jones, Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain, and Addison Reed kept Cleveland off the board from the sixth inning on. The result: a 3-2 Indians loss to snap a three-game winning streak before they head to Kansas City.

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The Good: Michael Brantley went 2-for-4 and Jason Kipnis stole two bases in three pitches.

The Bad: Zach McAllister had a rough day on the mound. Three runs on five hits in 5.2 innings is a respectable result, but that went along with five walks against just four strikeouts. For some perspective, McAllister entered Wednesday’s game having given up only three walks in 17.1 innings in his first three starts.

Also, the bottom two-thirds of the Tribe lineup combined to go 1-for-19.

The “Huh?”: I know there are real reasons for this and there’s a reason why I’m not an MLB scheduler, but after Tuesday’s rainout why didn’t the Indians and White Sox just play a doubleheader Wednesday? The scheduled game was already during the day, the Indians have today off, and the White Sox aren’t travelling today. Wouldn’t it have been easier just to play twice Wednesday instead of tacking on another rescheduled game?

Interesting Tidbit: Jose Quintana now owns a 1.48 ERA in five career outings against the Indians.