Guardians make offense a much-needed priority in ALDS Game 2 lineup against White Sox 

If the Guardians are going to fall into a 2-0 hole against the White Sox, at least they’ll go down swinging. 

After putting together a lackluster offensive performance against Chicago in Game 1 of the series on Saturday, the Guardians’ brain trust made some minor adjustments for their Game 2 line, namely swapping Austin Hedges for Patrick Bailey behind the plate and giving Nathaniel Lowe a start at first over David Fry. 

The Guardians' lineup is as follows: 

1. Steven Kwan, CF
2. José Ramírez, 3B
3. Chase DeLauter, RF 
4. Jo Adell, DH
5. Nathaniel Lowe, 1B
6. Angel Martínez, LF
7. Travis Bazzana, 2B
8. Patrick Bailey, C
9. Brayan Rocchio, SS 

The Guardians have all their sluggers in the lineup today against White Sox 

Along with subbing in Lowe and Bailey, the Guardians also swapped DeLauter and Adell’s defensive positions and moved Martínez down in the batting order to accommodate Lowe. 

Although the White Sox are starting left-hander Anthony Kay, the right-handed Sean Burke is set to cover most of the middle innings. So while Lowe may be at a disadvantage against Kay, he should feast against the right-handed bats out of the White Sox’s bullpen. 

He came off the bench in Game 1 and did exactly that, going 1-for-2 with a double, walk and strikeout. 

The downside of the White Sox flipping a left-handed starter for a right-handed one means it’s going to put a limit on the amount of at-bats Jo Adell is going to get against left-handed pitching. 

With that in mind, it makes sense that the Guardians kept Adell in the No. 4 spot in the lineup since it will (hopefully maximize the amount of at-bats he gets against left-handed pitching).  

Bailey may not be on the same kind of offensive level as the rest of the hitters at the top of the Guardians’ lineup, but he recorded one of Cleveland’s three hits in Game 1 with a pinch-hit single against Grant Taylor. 

Meanwhile, the White Sox changed their entire lineup from Game 1 by inserting Andrew Benintendi, Sam Antonacci and Tristan Peters into their lineup after having them on the bench in Game 1 (Peters pinch-hit). 

They also moved Kyle Teel to the No. 2 spot in the lineup while dropping Chase Meidorth to the No. 8 part in the lineup. 

Chicago’s lineup had some success against Gavin Williams in the regular season, so the Guardians are going to need to rack up runs in bunches today.

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