CLEVELAND — The off day today couldn’t come at a better time as far as the Indians are concerned.
In the midst of one of their worst stretches of the season — and that’s saying something — the Indians are well on their way to producing a highly forgettable homestand after a 6-2 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday night at Progressive Field.
The loss, Cleveland’s 14th in 17 games, completed a three-game sweep for the White Sox, who last accomplished as much in 2005, when they ended the Indians’ playoff push during the final week of the regular season.
It was the fifth straight defeat at home for Cleveland, which has been swept five times and owns its worst record of the season at 31-49.
“The off day is coming at a good time, just to break it up a little bit,” said Indians manager Eric Wedge, whose team is a season-high 18 games under .500 after losing its fifth straight game. “We’ve got some things that are happening, but right now we’re in a little bit of a rut.
“We just have to collect ourselves and try to get on track this weekend.”
A lack of offense was at the root of a loss once again for the Indians, who managed only five hits on the night, while the Sox collected 13. Cleveland, which entered the night ranked fourth in the majors with 403 runs, has scored just 13 over its last five games — nine in the series against Chicago.
White Sox starter Jose Contreras had plenty to do with the offensive inefficiency this time around.
The right-hander was in control from the start, allowing just a run on two hits over the first five innings, and just two runs on five hits for the game (eight innings).
Contreras (3-7, 4.84) struck out a season-high eight batters with just one walk.
“He was real good tonight,” Wedge said. “We need to be better offensively and I’m confident we will be, but he threw a good ballgame tonight. That (split-finger fastball) he was throwing was about as good as we’ve seen from him.”
Contreras has fared well against the Indians in the past, owning a career 6-2 record and 3.15 ERA in 15 appearances (14 starts) — 4-0 with a 1.88 ERA over his last five starts against them.
Cleveland starter Jeremy Sowers matched Contreras’ effort over the first five innings – one run on six hits – but as has been the case for the majority of the season, the left-hander ran out of gas in the later innings.
After allowing his first run in the fifth, Sowers recorded the first out in the sixth before allowing five consecutive hits – the biggest blow coming from Ramon Castro, who put Chicago in front 4-1 with a three-run home run to right field.
Sowers (2-6, 5.68) wound up allowing five runs on 11 hits over six innings — the eighth time in nine starts this season that he has failed to pitch into the seventh inning.
“I was still throwing strikes. They were just having quality at-bats,” said Sowers, who has been derailed by walks and high pitch counts. “Overall, they’re just a team right now that’s really streaky. We caught them at the wrong time. They just put up quality at-bats all series.
“The pitches could’ve been better, but they weren’t terrible.”
Cleveland got within three runs of Chicago’s advantage in the sixth on consecutive doubles from Victor Martinez and Shin-Soo Choo, Martinez’s snapping an 0-for-15 skid for the catcher. But Chicago added an insurance run off the Indians’ sagging bullpen in the seventh.
Jose Veras started the inning, retiring two of the three batters he faced, Alexei Ramirez reaching on a single. Left-hander Rafael Perez came on to face Jim Thome, who walked after entering the at-bat 1-for-15 without a walk lifetime off Perez.
Joe Smith relieved Perez and served up an RBI double to Paul Konerko, which provided the final count.
Thome’s walk, the 1,600th of his career, moved him past Hall of Famer Stan Musial and into 12th place on the all-time list. Thome, who played in Cleveland from 1991-2002, is still the franchise leader with 334 home runs.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136
or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

NEXT UP

WHO: Cleveland vs. Oakland
WHEN: Friday, 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: Progressive Field
PITCHERS: Huff (3-3, 6.26 ERA) vs. Cahill (5-6, 4.23)
TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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