Bauer battles through 7 but defense unravels

CHICAGO -- When Trevor Bauer walked off the mound in Sunday's loss to the Rays, he was confident that he was getting back on track after struggling through his previous May starts. But in an outing that was supposed to determine whether he found the fix, it was nearly impossible to evaluate his performance with sloppy defense behind him.

In the Indians' 6-1 loss to the White Sox on Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, Bauer allowed six runs through seven innings, but just two were earned after the Tribe's defense committed four errors. It was Cleveland's first four-error game since May 30, 2016, against the Rangers.

• Box score

“I don’t think we were ready to play tonight and that's my fault,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “I told these guys, that isn't going to happen anymore. Losing is one thing, but losing the way we did is not acceptable. We need to clean that up.

“We just had a series of things that shouldn't happen. We need to play better than that. We may lose, we're young in some areas, but we're going to play the game right.”

Here's a quick look at the costly miscues from the rough night for the Indians defense:

Third inning: Francisco Lindor muffed a Yonder Alonso ground ball and scrambled to get a quick throw off but ended up launching it wide of first base, allowing Alonso to advance to second. Alonso then scored on Charlie Tilson's ground-rule double.

Fourth inning: Seby Zavala popped up to shallow right field. Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis ran with his back toward the infield and tried to make a basket catch, but the ball hit off his glove. Although it was ruled a single -- Zavala's first career hit -- it was another bobble added to the evening.

The next batter, Leury Garcia, laid down a bunt with runners on first and second. The ball rolled hard back to Bauer, who -- without hesitation -- turned and fired to third to throw out the lead runner. But third baseman Mike Freeman slipped heading back toward the bag, allowing all to be safe, as Bauer crouched down to the ground in frustration.

With two outs, a ground ball hit off first baseman Carlos Santana's glove, rolling into the outfield, while Bauer's emotions boiled over on the field. He was able to strike out Eloy Jimenez to end the frame and yelled twice more as he made his way to the dugout with the Indians trailing 5-1.

Fifth inning: Freeman fielded a ground ball behind third base and made an errant throw across the diamond, allowing Tim Anderson to reach safely.

Yolmer Sanchez then singled to right, knocking in Anderson, and moved to second on a throwing error by Greg Allen.

“Every time we go out there, we go out there and try to give it our best,” said Lindor, who opened the game with his 15th career leadoff homer. “We were flat. The energy was flat. We didn't pick each other up when we made mistakes, it's our fault. We're professional baseball players. We get paid to go out there and give it our best and try to win ballgames, and we haven't been doing that lately. Hopefully tomorrow we can bounce back and become a better baseball team.”

Bauer shows progress
Although the box score did not reflect many positives, Bauer's stuff was solid through seven innings, even with the emotions he had to battle on the mound.

“I get pretty furious and I throw harder,” Bauer said. “My stuff gets sharper.”

“I thought he competed his rear end off,” Francona said. “We put him in some horrible positions from the get-go. On his line, I don't care what was earned and what wasn't, it doesn't matter. I thought he competed, and he pitched better than he has in a long time.”

“He was just being Trevor,” catcher Roberto Perez said. “I thought his command was there, his delivery, and we made four errors for him. It's tough, man, when the guy's out there, having a good game and competing. I feel like we made those mistakes and that cost us the game.”

While Francona was the first to admit that Friday's loss was his fault, his team was quick to say otherwise.

“Tito's not the one playing the game,” Bauer said. “The players in the clubhouse are the ones playing the game, and we didn't win tonight. It's on us.”