CHICAGO -- White Sox acting manager Miguel Cairo didn’t want to talk about Thursday’s one-game matchup against Cleveland at Progressive Field prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Rockies in Chicago.

But after a 3-0 shutout loss at Guaranteed Rate Field, which dropped the White Sox (73-70) to four games behind the Guardians (76-65), Cairo didn’t want to talk about Thursday’s almost must-win situation at the core of chasing the American League Central leaders.

“It’s one game at a time. Anything can happen,” Cairo said. “We still have like, what, 19 games? Those guys, they’re not going to give up.

“See what you did wrong, what you did right, move on. That’s the way I look at it. And I hope they look at it that way, too. I’ll be talking to them: ‘Hey, we still have a chance, do our job and put pressure on them.’”

Credit goes to Kyle Freeland and two Colorado relievers for shutting down the White Sox on eight hits. Carlos Estévez and Daniel Bard (30th save) struck out six in the last 2 1/3 innings.

The White Sox also failed to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities, finishing 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. They were retired in order during just the sixth and the ninth.

Their fifth shutout overall and third at Guaranteed Rate Field, coupled with Cleveland’s come-from-behind home victory over the Angels -- a sixth straight win for the Guardians -- dropped the White Sox elimination number to 17. The White Sox are buoyed by four head-to-head games with the Guardians, including three in Chicago from Sept. 20-22, knowing they have to win all four to close the gap, even if they aren’t saying it out loud.

“For sure, the chance is going to be there,” said White Sox shortstop Elvis Andrus, who had two of the team’s eight hits. “They've been playing perfect until now. If we keep winning series, we know that sooner or later they're going to crumble, the closer we get.

“Tomorrow's going to be a really good game for us to go out there and put [up] a statement. After that, just go to Detroit and win that series, for sure."

Wednesday’s setback was made even tougher with Dylan Cease (14-7), one of the AL Cy Young Award frontrunners, on the mound. Cease fanned eight in five innings, with the White Sox striking out 15 overall, but was not as sharp as usual in needing 107 pitches (66 strikes).

Colorado scored two in the second and one in the fifth, after extending Cease to 26 pitches during a scoreless first. Cease still is 10-5 with a 1.35 ERA and 143 strikeouts in 120 1/3 innings over his last 20 starts, with his next trip to the mound figuring to come Tuesday at home against Cleveland.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make whatever adjustment I needed to make,” Cease said. “Looking back, I’ll spend some time, reflect on it and basically this next week will be kind of working on what I think needs to be worked on. It’s definitely better than going 4 2/3 or four, but it’s not very satisfying to only go five.”

“He struggled a little bit with his pitches at the beginning, and after that, he got his composure and pitched good,” Cairo said. “He gave us at least five innings today. We didn’t hit. We didn’t get the key hit. Our bullpen did an excellent job. We just didn’t hit with men on base. That happens.”

Lance Lynn starts Thursday afternoon for the White Sox, in what is a makeup game. The right-hander has a 5-2 record and a 2.05 ERA over 10 starts since the All-Star break, so he seems to be the right man for this important task.

Cleveland switched from Triston McKenzie to rookie Hunter Gaddis as its probable starter. But the White Sox can’t really focus on the opposition as much as they need to be prepared to win as many games as possible in these final 19.

“Just letting that kind of fuel your focus,” Cease said. “At the end of the day, we all know what the stakes are. So you can either let that get to you or let that fuel you.”

“We just have to have a short memory,” Cairo said. “I like to stay positive. Negative people, I don’t want [anything] negative. At the end of the day, we have a task and we have to prepare for tomorrow.”