The Cleveland Indians’ pronounced struggles at the plate have returned with a vengeance, rendering the already light-hitting team with little offensive punch.
After being shut out for the second time in three contests, the Indians will look to locate their missing offense on Wednesday when they play the third contest of their four-game series against the visiting Chicago White Sox.
Cleveland has been outscored 21-1, mustered just 17 hits and struck out 26 times during a losing skid that extended to three games with Tuesday’s 2-0 setback to the White Sox.
“Not panicking. That’s not the easiest thing to do,” manager Terry Francona told reporters of his Indians club that has scored three or fewer runs in 19 of 34 games this season.
“You show up and you want to win so bad, but sometimes you gotta be patient even when you don’t want to be.”
Chicago has seen its confidence build with seven wins in its last 11 contests, including the first two of this four-game series.
Yoan Moncada followed up his two-run homer and four RBIs in a 9-1 shellacking of Cleveland in the series opener with an RBI single in the third inning on Tuesday. The 23-year-old has six hits — including two homers — to go along with eight RBIs and five runs in four games against the Indians this season.
James McCann drove in a run in the sixth inning, boosting his batting average to .422 with nine RBIs in his last 11 games.
Cleveland right-hander Shane Bieber (2-1, 3.16 ERA) will be tasked with slowing down the White Sox on Wednesday.
Bieber received his second consecutive no-decision Friday despite allowing one run on six hits in a career-high 7 2/3 innings versus Seattle.
The 23-year-old has posted a 1-0 mark in a pair of scoreless starts in his career against the White Sox. Bieber has scattered five hits and struck out 17 in 12 2/3 innings, although Moncada is 2-for-3 with a double versus the hurler in a small sample size.
While Cleveland’s offense on a whole is in a funk, Jason Kipnis is starting to heat up after recording consecutive multi-hit performances in this series. The 32-year-old was 2-for-32 in his previous nine games.
“I believe in our guys and you can’t just pat them on the back when things are going great,” Francona said. “That’s the easy part. When it’s not looking so rosy, that’s when you gotta really keep at it. So that’s what we’re going to do.”
Tuesday starter Lucas Giolito noted that the Indians’ offense struggled with his liberal mix of fastballs and changeups, a recipe that could be followed throughout the remainder of the series.
“They weren’t adjusting to it. So we just stuck with that,” Giolito said. “The second curveball I threw got hit hard, that was the double down the line (by Kipnis). I was like, ‘Why mess around? Let’s go after them with heaters and changeups off of that and it worked out well.”
Chicago right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (2-4, 6.69 ERA) will look to follow in those steps on Wednesday.
Lopez answered three straight quality starts with a porous one on Friday, as he surrendered two homers and six runs total in five innings of a 6-1 setback versus Boston.
The 25-year-old has struggled with his control throughout the season, issuing three free passes in back-to-back games and multi-walk performances in six of seven trips to the mound.
Lopez owns an 0-3 mark with an 8.31 ERA and 2.08 WHIP in three career encounters with Cleveland, with Leonys Martin going 5-for-7 against him.