CHICAGO -- Parker Messick stood against the green padded railing in the Guardians’ first-base dugout on Tuesday night as fireworks lit up the sky at Rate Field. He lingered there for several moments, gazing at the White Sox celebratory handshake line.
Messick gave Cleveland everything it could have asked for Tuesday, but the Guardians lost, 2-1. The left-hander allowed just two runs on three hits and one walk over 7 2/3 innings while recording a career-high 10 strikeouts.
“You can’t ask for much more than that,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said.
As we have continued to see recently, the Guardians’ margin for error is razor thin. Even a stellar performance from Messick wasn’t enough for a club that is 41-39 nearing the season’s halfway point (one game behind Chicago in the AL Central), 7-12 in June and 2-6 on this nine-game road trip.
The third record corresponds with when José Ramírez, Chase DeLauter and Angel Martínez suffered injuries that ultimately landed each of them on the injured list. The Guardians have averaged 3.38 runs per game in eight contests since, a figure buoyed by Saturday’s eight-run output in Houston.
On Tuesday, the Guardians tallied one run on six hits. The lone tally came when Kahlil Watson hit a solo shot in the fifth, which was his first career home run.
Cleveland’s offensive struggles go back further than when it lost three key members of its lineup. The Guardians’ .638 OPS from May 19 (when they beat the Tigers, 4-3) through Monday ranked last in the Majors. The injuries compounded their struggles, and Tuesday was reflective of where things stand right now.
The Guardians philosophically embrace playing matchups. Entering Tuesday, they ranked first in the Majors in platoon advantage (77.5 percent), but Vogt’s options for those spots are imperfect right now.
Cleveland trailed, 2-1, in the eighth when Rhys Hoskins drew a two-out walk off lefty Sean Newcomb. The left-handed-hitting Daniel Schneemann was due up, and Vogt called for pinch-hitter and righty Stuart Fairchild. He struck out looking on a 3-2 four-seamer on the inner half, in a moment emblematic of the current roster situation.
David Fry typically is the first right-handed hitter off the bench on days he does not start. He pinch-hit for Petey Halpin in the seventh. That left Fairchild, Gabriel Arias and the switch-hitting Patrick Bailey.
Fairchild has fared decently well against lefties in his career (.739 OPS), but he entered 3-for-18 with seven walks and 13 strikeouts this season. Arias is 4-for-22 with 13 strikeouts in five games since coming off the injured list.
Just as telling about the pinch-hit decision was it kept Hoskins as the tying run at first. The DH came in with a 24.9 percent sprint speed (fourth percentile in MLB). Fairchild (27.5 percent, 53rd percentile) was an option to run.
We knew it would take some time for the Guardians to figure out how to generate offense without Ramírez and Co. Vogt was asked about the ongoing process of when to use guys and during which matchups.
“We're playing the guys that we want to play,” Vogt said. “We're matching up when we need to or when we have to. But we’ve got to trust all 13, like we are. We’re figuring it out, but we're just not getting anything going right now, and it's tough.
“We talked about Parker a lot, but [White Sox starter Sean] Burke was pretty good tonight.”
Burke held the Guardians to six hits and one walk over 6 1/3 innings. But Messick was even better, and he went home with a tough-luck loss.
Messick struck out the side in the seventh inning, including Braden Montgomery on a 97.6 mph four-seam fastball (Messick’s new career high for his fastest pitch). He went back out for the eighth and retired Sam Antonacci and Drew Romo on groundouts.
Vogt went to get Messick after he retired Romo. The left-hander appeared to plead his case to stay in the game. But with Miguel Vargas (who hit a solo homer off Messick in the fifth) due up, Vogt went with Colin Holderman. The right-hander struck out Vargas.
“The competitor in me wants to always have that last guy, always get that last out,” Messick said. “But Vogter made the right call, as always, and Holdy got the job done. It was not me thinking like, ‘Oh, I need to get this guy.' I just want to compete, and that guy got me, so I wanted more than anything to get him back.
“Luckily they're in the division, so we're gonna play them a bunch more.”