CLEVELAND — Andrew Benintendi ripped a double to right. With one out in the fourth inning, the Chicago White Sox had one of their best scoring chances Monday against the Cleveland Guardians.
Hunter Gaddis, who entered the game with a 6.86 ERA, struck out Luis Robert Jr. Yoán Moncada got hit by a pitch, but the Sox came up empty when Gavin Sheets popped out to second baseman Andrés Giménez.
It was that type of night for the Sox, who lost 3-0 in front of 13,878 at Progressive Field. Gaddis and four relievers limited the Sox to three hits in the opener of the three-game series.
The Guardians had only four hits as both teams pitched well.
With Mike Clevinger on the injured list, the Sox went with the combination of Jimmy Lambert and Jesse Scholtens for the bulk of the game. The reliever Lambert served as the opener, allowing one hit and a walk in a scoreless first.
Scholtens, recalled from Triple-A Charlotte on Monday, allowed one run on two hits with one strikeout and two walks in five innings. The run came on a wild pitch in the second.
Scholtens got out of a jam in the third when Benintendi made a running catch in left and the Sox doubled up Steven Kwan at second.
Kwan reached third with two outs in the sixth, and Scholtens struck out Josh Bell to end the inning and his night.
But the Sox couldn’t get anything going against Gaddis, who allowed two hits, struck out four and walked one in six innings in his sixth appearance (fifth start) of the season.
The Sox threatened with one out in the seventh when Clint Frazier walked and Andrew Vaughn singled against reliever Sam Hentges. The lefty struck out Yasmani Grandal, and Nick Sandlin got Jake Burger to line out softly to Giménez.
Mike Zunino dealt the Sox a blow in the seventh with a two-run homer against Gregory Santos to extend the lead to 3-0. The Guardians catcher was 1-for-31 in May heading into that at-bat.
It was one of those nights for the Sox.
