Load the bases with no outs and don’t score.
Botch a ground ball playing in with the go-ahead run at third.
Get caught stealing twice.
Go 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position in the first four innings, then put nobody in scoring position in the last five.
That’s how the White Sox, with right-hander Dylan Cease having a good day on the mound, allowed the Guardians to avoid a series sweep Thursday. Gabriel Arias drove a 406-foot home run to the opposite field against Cease and shortstop Tim Anderson’s error on a routine ground ball allowed the first of two Cleveland runs to score in the seventh, and the Sox lost 3-1 to fall to 16-29.
The second run of the inning came on Cam Gallagher’s RBI single against Gregory Santos, snapping an 0-for-34 streak.
Having won the first two games of the series in convincing fashion, and catching a break facing the Guardians without Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor, the Sox were poised to keep a good little thing going the day after proclaiming they were still in the AL Central race.
Whether they are or not is open for debate, and will probably be determined in more definitive fashion in the next four series against the Royals, Guardians, Angels and Tigers.
Cease pitched 6 1⁄3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three.
Left-hander Logan Allen pitched 5 1⁄3 innings of one-run ball. The Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the second again Allen but Hanser Alberto popped out and Seby Zavala and Jake Marisnick struck out.