Tito tossed early as Guards can't overcome tough break

CHICAGO -- The Guardians needed a break to fall their way to escape the rut they had slipped into. The offense went silent on Friday, getting blanked by Touki Touissant and the White Sox. They wanted to start Saturday night's game on a different note and thought they were going to.

But one moment of hope turned into an inning-ending double play, ruining any chance the squad had to establish momentum in its 7-2 loss to the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Steven Kwan led off the game with a single to center off of former Clevelander Mike Clevinger. After Andrés Giménez struck out swinging, José Ramírez served a fly ball into left field, and because left fielder Zach Remillard had been playing so far off the line, it looked like it was destined to find grass.

Kwan thought so, too, which led to him breaking from first base and rounding second before he saw Remillard popping up from his diving effort as if he had made the catch. At that moment, Kwan turned around and started backtracking to first base.

But it was clear Kwan was unsure whether the ball had actually been caught, and he seemed to hesitate around second base. That split second allowed the relay throw from left field to get to first base at the same time Kwan did, and first-base umpire and crew chief Todd Tichenor called Kwan out.

Guardians manager Terry Francona knows how this process works. He has said since the beginning of the season that every manager will put his hand up after nearly every close play, signaling that there’s a chance they’ll challenge. So, as Kwan stood up at first base, Francona’s hand rocketed into the air.

That’s when bench coach DeMarlo Hale grabs the phone in the dugout that rings Cleveland's replay coordinator, Mike Barnett. Barnett then has 15 seconds to view the play in question on his own monitor and inform the dugout whether they should challenge. But Barnett was looking at two plays at once. He was trying to make sure Remillard made the catch before analyzing whether Kwan beat the throw back to first base.

Remillard’s catch was far from a sure thing to the naked eye. Statcast gave it a 40 percent catch probability, but he was able to cover 79 feet in 4.5 seconds to make the diving snag. Barnett needed to make sure Remillard didn’t trap the ball in his pursuit and by doing so, the clock had hardly any time left for him to also look at the play at first.

Meanwhile, Tichenor was circling his finger through the air, signaling to Cleveland’s bench that it was running out of time. That’s when Barnett decided the play at first needed to be challenged. He told Hale to relay the message to Francona, but by the time Francona let the umpires know, he was told it was too late.

“Yeah, 15 seconds, to me, that’s tough,” Hale said “You got two plays you’re trying to review. … When [Barnett] said challenge, I told [Francona] and Todd said he didn’t have enough time. [The] 15 seconds was up.”

Francona was frustrated and he made sure to let Tichenor know. Francona stormed out of the dugout, voiced his opinions on the situation and was ejected from the game shortly thereafter. It marked his first ejection of the season, becoming the final American League manager to get tossed this year. The only other skipper who hadn't been ejected yet, entering Saturday, was Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Guardians needed to swing the momentum back in their favor, and trying to capitalize on getting their leadoff batter on base was critical at the time. Even though Cleveland was shut out on Friday night in Chicago, it had won seven of its previous 11 contests. In the last 10 of those, the team averaged six runs per game.

The offense had been clicking. But the club has yet to be more than one game over .500 since the beginning of April. The Guardians can’t afford to lose momentum because the Minnesota has yet to run away with the division. Since the Twins have lost four in a row after their loss to Kansas City on Saturday, the Guardians remain just 1 1/2 games back in the AL Central.

Despite the offense’s struggles the last two nights, the Guardians know they need to put their focus on splitting the series on Sunday to try to get back in the win column.

“It happens,” Hale said. “Come back tomorrow, try to put some traffic on the bases and try to score some runs.”