Guardians fall short as White Sox unfazed by Shane Bieber

Shane Bieber’s first day back after the All-Star break didn’t quite go as planned. The Chicago White Sox launched three home runs against the Cy Young winner to open a six-run lead. While the Cleveland Guardians avoided a shutout they scored only three and fell to 48-46 on the season.

Chicago scored five of its six in the second inning when Leury García and AJ Pollock generated multi-run souvenirs. Bieber rebounded from this to throw three scoreless innings before allowing a third solo home run in the sixth, an inning he completed.

This is not meant to excuse poor performance. Giving up six runs is ... we’re going to go with suboptimal. That said, gobbling six innings on a bad command day is not without value. Anthony Castro and Sam Hentges also contributed two scoreless innings and now a tired bullpen can take a breather. There continue to be 162 games.

Especially frustrating this afternoon: the Guardians scattered eleven hits with three walks while the Sox tallied eight and one, respectively. Sequencing? A little bit.

The Guardiac Kids will not always make it all the way back, but Franmil Reyes launched a two-run home run in the eighth inning. Steven Kwan added one of his own — the second of his career — in the top of the ninth.

The last three hitters in today’s lineup were Ernie Clement, Austin Hedges, and Myles Straw. While Ernie Clement drew a walk the trio failed to record a hit and often upset momentum.

Meanwhile, Dylan Cease continues to definitively state his All-Star case. He blanked the Guardians in six innings, striking out four and walking one while working around seven hits.

Corner Pieces

• Franmil Reyes (28) now owns more RBI than Steven Kwan (27). Cleanup. Leadoff. Potato. Potahtoe. Today they both homered so everyone wins. Except for Cleveland? Who caught the snitch, again?
• Myles Straw’s 16-game on-base streak comes to an end which is a shame because I’m apparently always looking for excuses to use a hyphen.
• Josh Naylor clubbed three more hits. Against the White Sox. You love to see it.
• Amed Rosario entered today with a 150 wRC+ and 2.0 fWAR since June 1. The numbers: they continue to climb.

Not everybody can be Yordan Alvarez, anyway (247 wRC+ in that span!)

Wait, What?

Seby Zavala didn’t get a hit. Are we sure? I just ... I want to make sure I have this right because it feels like——

What’s next?

Cleveland takes on Boston at Fenway tomorrow night.

A previous version of this article contained a headline that used the word “Unphased” instead of “Unfazed”. All responsible parties are on the way to Mordor as we speak.