White Sox offense struggles, drop Game 2 to Indians

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Jose Abreu continues to struggle and the White Sox offense followed suit in the nightcap of a doubleheader Monday.

Cleveland Indians starter Cody Anderson struck out nine batters and helped his team avoid a doubleheader sweep as the White Sox lost Game 2 by a 5-1 count at U.S. Cellular Field. Anderson wiggled out of a first-inning jam by retiring Abreu and limited the White Sox — who put 18 men on base in a 7-6 win in Game 1 — to five hits in seven innings. Erik Johnson allowed five runs, including three home runs, in 6.2 innings.

“He’s got a nice fastball, but the changeup/breaking stuff was much better than we’ve seen it before,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “Their guy was up to it.”

Abreu doubled in nine at-bats in the doubleheader and stranded seven runners on base, including three early in the second game.

Anderson, who entered the game 0-3 with a 7.99 ERA, didn’t give the White Sox many opportunities. They had a shot at him early as Todd Frazier and Melky Cabrera both singled with two outs in the bottom of the first inning and no score. But Abreu quickly fell behind 1-2 in the count, fouled off a pitch and weakly grounded out to first to end the threat.

Abreu also stranded a runner in scoring position in the third inning with the score tied at 1.

Frazier doubled with two outs and scored on Cabrera’s game-tying single and advanced to second on a Jose Ramirez error. Abreu, who stranded a pair twice in the opener, struck out to end the third. He went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the doubleheader and is now hitting .236 in 67 plate appearances with 18 RBIs.

The strikeout of Abreu was the third of the inning by Anderson, who retired the final 13 White Sox hitters he faced.

“It was just one of those games where good pitching it will beat good hitting any day,” outfielder Austin Jackson said. “He was using all of his pitches. You really couldn’t sit on one pitch up there. We really didn’t get anything going to get those timely hits.”

Looking for a lengthy start, Johnson kept the White Sox competitive for six innings. He allowed a solo homer to Ramirez in the second inning. Rajai Davis jumped on a 3-0 pitch in the fifth inning for a two-run homer to put Cleveland ahead 3-1. Juan Uribe blasted a solo shot off Johnson to start the seventh inning, the first homer he’s hit against the White Sox in 26 career plate appearances.

Johnson allowed five earned runs and six hits with three walks in 6.2 innings. He struck out five.

“Certain situations like the 3-0 to Rajai, where you have an open base, you have to be smarter than that than to throw one right over the plate,” Johnson said. “Just a few pitches I wish I had back. For the most part, I’m thankful for another opportunity to help this team out as best I can. If those opportunities keep coming, I’m more than happy to keep rolling out there.”

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