The Cleveland Guardians dropped another painful game against the Chicago White Sox on Friday.
They had already lost on Thursday at the hands of the same foe, one of the worst teams in baseball.
If the Guardians want to go far and make the postseason, these are the kinds of games they just can’t lose, especially in a row.
But baseball is a cruel mistress sometimes, and these things happen.
On Friday, the Guards got a valiant effort by veteran starter Carlos Carrasco.
He labored through seven innings in which he conceded five runs, but only three were earned.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt certainly had a lot of positive things to say about Carrasco and his outing.
“Cookie was unbelievably outstanding tonight, exactly what we needed. (He pitched) seven great innings, and his only two mistakes came in the seventh. Can’t say enough about him, just the way he battled, the way he pounded the zone, he made great pitches and induced weak contact all night, until the seventh inning,” Bally Sports Cleveland tweeted, with Vogt’s quotes.
Despite coming up on the losing end in Chicago, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt had nothing but great things to say about a continuously improving Carlos Carrasco. pic.twitter.com/Q6wLoOccIr
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) May 11, 2024
As it happens with everything in life, context matters.
As we said above, two of the runs were unearned as Carrasco was betrayed by his defense on a couple of occasions.
Additionally, the two solo home runs against Carrasco that accounted for his fourth and fifth runs conceded came in the seventh inning, when he was tiring and the opposing lineup had already seen his stuff more than a few times.
When everything was said and done, Cleveland’s offense just couldn’t solve Garrett Crochet.
By the time the Guards’ offense came to life against Chicago’s bullpen, it was too late.
Carrasco’s ERA rose to 5.36 after the outing.
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