CLEVELAND — White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon made two mistakes and paid for them.
In the first inning, Cannon threw an 82.8 mph sweeper low and inside that Kyle Manzardo blasted to right field for a two-run home run. In the third, after he allowed a leadoff double to Brayan Rocchio, Steven Kwan got all of a 93.6 mph fastball for another two-run shot.
With the 6-1 loss to the Guardians on Thursday, the Sox finished 0-6 on their first road trip of the season and were outscored 28-12. They’ve lost eight in a row. Last season, they didn’t have an eight-game skid until May.
Cannon labored through 5⅓ innings, allowing six runs, seven hits and three walks and striking out six. But the Sox’ struggles on the trip stem from their listless offense.
The Sox haven’t homered in six consecutive games. They had only two extra-base hits in the three-game series and were outscored 10-3. And they didn’t capitalize on enough of the few scoring chances they had.
To start the second inning, Austin Slater and Lenyn Sosa reached on back-to-back singles. But Guardians starter Gavin Williams retired the next three batters — Brooks Baldwin on a strikeout, Michael A. Taylor on a lineout and Jacob Amaya on a flyout.
Williams held the Sox to one run and three hits in five innings, striking out seven.
“Williams has really good stuff,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “And in some spots where we might have had some opportunities, he just made some really good pitches, and we weren’t able to string some things together. Credit to him. It was just one of those days we couldn’t get it going.”
Those days are becoming every day for the Sox, and there’s no end in sight. The team put catcher Korey Lee (sprained left ankle) and outfielder Mike Tauchman (strained right hamstring) on the 10-day injured list. On Tuesday, the Sox lost left fielder Andrew Benintendi to a strained left adductor.
Without them, they will have to make do.
Entering Thursday, Sox hitters ranked 17th in strikeout rate (22.4%) and 15th in walk rate (9.3%). Those numbers aren’t great, but they also aren’t alarming. The team hasn’t gotten that bases-clearing hit to produce the big inning it needs.
The Sox went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position Thursday and left six on base. After Sosa’s single in the second, they went hitless until the ninth, when catcher Matt Thaiss doubled to right.
“Take the positives with the negatives,” first baseman Andrew Vaughn said. “But I think we’ve been great one through nine, taking great at-bats. It’s gonna show.”
Venable said he liked what he saw from the defense and pitching. But he knows he needs to get more out of the offense.
“Just offensively, got to continue to fight and grind and find ways to score runs,” Venable said.
“We’re going to continue to go to work . . . get to go back home and see what we’ve got against Boston.”
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