White Sox lose 3rd straight; Hector Noesi has off night

Jul 11, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher

(48) pitches during the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Former Chicago White Sox Nick Swisher put his former team in their place on Friday night with the Cleveland Indians benefiting from his two-run home run for a 7-4 White Sox loss.

Jul 11, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians designated hitter

(33) rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run during the fifth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

This is the third consecutive loss for the White Sox with two games remaining until the All-Star break on Monday.

I’m not even surprised any more with the White Sox and their inconsistent ways when facing sub-par teams.

The Indians (45-46) aren’t that great of of a team either, but the White Sox managed to make them look like a contender … at least in the first game of this series.

The score was tied at 2-2 after two innings and then again at 3-3 after fourth. The White Sox took a one-run lead after the top of the fifth, but the two-run homer by Swisher in the Cleveland half of the fifth (a three-run inning), followed with another run in the seventh led to the White Sox loss.

For the White Sox (44-49) it was Adam Dunn hitting a solo home run in the fifth that put the White Sox in the lead at 4-3. He finished 1-for-4 in the game with three strikeouts.

The White Sox offense struck out a total of 11 times, as they did finish with eight hits.

Adrian Nieto finished 2-for-4 with one RBI.

In speaking about Nieto, I think he deserves a real shot at becoming the starting catcher over Tyler Flowers.

Flowers has had many opportunities and just isn’t cutting it at the plate. What harm can it do to give Nieto more at-bats?

Nieto is batting .258 in 66 at-bats this season. In the past two games he’s appeared in he is 3-for-7.

With the way the White Sox are in their inconsistencies … why not?

Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton, Alexei Ramirez (who batted second in the order on Friday), Conor Gillaspie and Alejandro De Aza each had one hit.

Leury Garcia had an RBI.

The starting pitching for the White Sox just wasn’t there either. Hector Noesi (3-7, 5.26 ERA) allowed six earned runs on seven hits and four walks in 4.2 innings. He struck out four and allowed two him runs.

It was one of the bad nights for Noesi.

The bullpen allowed one run in a combined 3.1 innings of relief.

Corey Kluber was the winning pitcher for the Indians. He pitched six innings, allowed four earned runs on eight hits and two walks. He struck out five.

Just a bad night of pitching and a bad final four and a half innings for the White Sox led to another loss, as they will enter Saturday’s game five-games under .500.