CLEVELAND -- On Friday, the Chicago White Sox were only able to generate two hits against Cleveland in their shutout loss.
They needed just four batters to best that total on Saturday against starter Parker Messick, as three of the first four White Sox batters recorded hits off Messick to help give Chicago a 1-0 lead before starter Davis Martin had even taken the mound.
That ended up being all the damage they were able to do against the Guardians’ pitching staff.
The White Sox bats went silent from there on out, as Chicago finished the night with eight hits but failed to score another run the rest of the way in a 3-1 loss to the Guardians on Saturday at Progressive Field.
It also featured a bit of an eventful day for Martin. It looked like he had completed a 1-2-3 first inning by striking out José Ramírez, but the inning kept going after the ball got past catcher Edgar Quero, which added to Martin’s workload.
In total, Martin had to throw 14 more pitches in the inning before getting out of it, thanks to a Gabriel Arias lineout with two runners on.
An inning later, the Guardians struck for two runs when Bo Naylor hit a leadoff single, followed by a two-run home run from rookie C.J. Kayfus.
“One bad pitch,” Martin said. “Kayfus is a honey hole guy, so if you throw a fastball in, you’re asking for damage to be done.”
Even if Martin’s start didn’t result in a win, it was a tangible example of the progress he’s made this year. He’s now gone at least five innings in all but one of his starts since returning from a forearm injury at the end of July, which was his biggest goal coming into the season.
“He had really good stuff,” manager Will Venable said. “We really asked a lot of him to get through [the first inning] and he did a really good job. Early on, it felt like it was going to be a long start for him, but he had to throw too many pitches in the first.”
He’s now thrown 132 1/3 innings this season (which is the most he’s thrown in any Major League season) and has overtaken fellow starter Shane Smith (131 innings) in their competition for who can throw more innings this year.
“It’s finding ways to compete internally across these last two weeks,” Martin said. “I know people say, ‘Oh, you don’t have anything to play for.’ We love winning and we love beating other people.”
Had Martin not suffered the forearm injury that kept him out for a little more than a month, he’d likely have pitched more than 150 innings on the season, which would be the most on the White Sox by a significant margin. He also hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since the beginning of August.
“He’s worked through stuff all year and has been as good as anybody doing it,” Venable said.
Seven of the White Sox’s eight hits came against Messick, though they weren’t able to do much with any of them.
Michael A. Taylor hit a two-out single in the fourth inning, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. Curtis Mead hit a two-out double in the fifth (Chicago's first extra-base hit since Mead’s double in the first inning on Thursday) but was promptly stranded. Taylor had another single in the seventh but never got past first base.
The White Sox’s run in the first inning came when Lenyn Sosa drove in Chase Meidroth with a one-out single. The White Sox looked poised to turn it into a big inning, but Mike Tauchman hit a lineout to second base, and Brayan Rocchio then picked off Quero at second base.
“We got off to a great start there, but that play can’t happen,” Venable said. “Ideally, in that situation, you want to work back toward the base … he put himself in a tough spot.”
Quero initially broke toward third base on the play, which gave him no chance to get back to the base before Rocchio flipped the ball to Arias covering second.
“That was my bad,” Quero said. “My first move has to be back.”