Zach Plesac's Struggles Continue as Indians Drop Opener of 9-Game Homestand 8-5 to White Sox

Tuesday night's lid-lifter of a nine-game homestand at Progressive Field was also a rematch of last week's historic effort by the White Sox's Carlos Rondon, who no-hit the Indians in a Sox 8-0 win last Wednesday.

Rondon, a lefty who has had an up and down Major League career, was back at it Tuesday, but nowhere near effective as the Indians stayed in the game for most of the night despite losing 8-5 in the first of a nine-game homestand.

"It just feels good to finally sit here and tell you I dominated today, and it felt good," Rodón said after the win. 

"I've never really done that. I've never done that on this level at least, and it feels good to say I did it."

The Tribe offense was mostly stagnant against the Sox, as they were able to put up just seven hits, and they were issued nine walks and got three errors.

In the process - they scored five times, but it wasn't enough. 

Jordan Luplow, who homered, also walked three times in the losing effort. 

When the team loses games, that seems to be the ongoing scenario,  hang around, make it interesting late, but fall short. 

Now at 8-8, 4-2 at Progressive Field, the Indians will look to rebound after likely having the ability Wednesday to build a snowman at Progressive Field.

We'll look at what's next in a bit, but here are some takeaways from Tuesday's setback. 

It's the second time in 2021 the team has started a homestand with a loss. 

Are Plesac's Early Struggles Concerning? 

Last season Zach Plesac started three games against the Chicago White Sox in a shortened 60-game season, allowing four runs in the three starts.

In two starts thus far in 2021 against the Sox, he's given up 12 runs on 14 hits. 

In those two games he's not issued a walk to go with four K's. 

"He made some mistakes and paid for them, I thought he made some strides tonight, he threw a few good pitches then throw one over the middle," Indians manager Terry Francona said. 

Plesac has given up 14 runs in 18.2 innings, an ERA of 6.92, clearly nowhere near as sharp as he was during the 2020 campaign when he carried a 2.28 ERA in going 4-2 in eight starts. 

"My pitches all picked up, slider is back to where it needs to be, couple of heaters sneaked over the plate, they didn't miss, for as well as I feeling, moving forward I am going to take every pitch and just look forward to my next start," Plesac said. 

Round Two Vs Rondon

The Indians were no-hit six days ago against Sox starter Carlos Rondon, but Tuesday their game plan was a whole lot better in trying to ride up Rondon's pitch count. 

"We drove his pitch count up, which is the next best thing," Francona said. 

The Sox starter was pulled after five innings by manager Tony LaRussa and company, this after throwing 110 pitches, giving up one earned run on three hits with a whopping five walks and eight K's. 

The Tribe had a great shot to really make it interesting in the 4th inning trailing 3-1.

They had the bases loaded with no outs, and Rondon reached back and got a pair of important strikeouts for outs one and two.

Then it was Josh Naylor making a tough mistake as he ran through a stop sign at third, and was thrown out at home by plenty after Cesar Hernandez hit an infield single. 

Francona knew that was the team's best shot to make it a game again as his team climbed back in after leading the way. 

"(Carlos) Rodon's pitch count was climbing in a hurry, that was probably our big chance to not only get him out of the game but get on the board more," Francona said. 

Naylor did have a bit of redemption in the 9th when he laced a double to deep right to make it an 8-4 game. 

He's still hitting .255 which on this team isn't bad at all, and in the 9th he got his first RBI of the year. 

One other player who continues to take advantage of chances at the plate is Jordan Luplow, who went 1-for-2 with three walks, and his 5th HR of the young season. 

"He didn't have quite the command tonight, he made a little adjustment on his heater and it worked out," Luplow said of Rondon. 

"That was tough tonight, we had the big spot, we need to pick each other up, we battled tonight, I think we're close, hopefully the flood gates open here soon."

Next Up

Wednesday evening at 6:10pm the Indians and Sox wrap up their short two-game set at Progressive Field weather permitting. 

Aaron Civale at 3-0 with a 2.18 ERA goes for Cleveland, while the Sox who have yet to announce a starter, may go with a 'bullpen' game where a number of players get their shot to pitch an inning or two.