White Sox have moments to second-guess after crushing walk-off loss in Cleveland

CLEVELAND — Something — or someone — produced a sound like a wall being punched inside the White Sox’ clubhouse after their game Tuesday.

The potential reasons for it — after the game flipped from what would have been a gutty comeback victory to clinch a vital series against the second-place Guardians to a crushing 7-6 loss on Brayan Rocchio’s second walk-off hit against closer Grant Taylor of the season — are innumerable.

‘‘It sucks,’’ said right-hander Davis Martin, who allowed two runs (one earned) in 5⅓ innings. ‘‘We did a lot of really good things tonight, but baseball doesn’t always reward you for doing everything right.’’

The final pitch alone, set up by a walk to light-hitting catcher Patrick Bailey that put the winning run aboard after Nathaniel Lowe had singled, spoke multitudes.

Taylor got ahead of Rocchio — the author of three previous walk-off hits this season — 0-2 with a pair of breaking balls. He followed with a 101 mph sinker well above the zone. Rocchio didn’t hit it especially hard, but the ball went high and far into the left-field corner, where it floated just out of Sam Antonacci’s diving attempt. MLB’s player tracking showed the converted infielder taking a short loop inward before righting his path and racing to the corner, a half-second too late.

‘‘Pretty dog[-expletive], to be honest,’’ Antonacci said of his route. ‘‘Got to clean it up. It’s the big leagues. You can’t make those types of routes.’’

Manager Will Venable, however, was more understanding.

‘‘That’s not on Sammy; that’s a tough play,’’ Venable said. ‘‘A big play but not the reason that we lost that game.’’

Instead, Venable wondered about the pitch: a triple-digit fastball in a chase location but still a fastball to a hitter who had burned Taylor on the same pitch earlier this season.

‘‘You’ve seen Rocchio and even heard from him how he’s selling out to fastballs against Grant,’’ Venable said. ‘‘[He] had him 0-2 with a couple of breaking balls [and] tried to sneak one by him. Really good hitter, made contact and obviously saw the results.’’

‘‘I wouldn’t say [Rocchio] sold out to it,’’ catcher Kyle Teel said. ‘‘Two strikes on him, it’s the right pitch call. Grant’s throwing 101 mph. It is what it is. I liked the pitch call. I think Grant put it in a solid spot. If we spin him there and we throw three [breaking balls] in a row, he could clip that one, too.’’

The ninth inning wiped away the Sox’ comeback from an early 3-0 hole, as left-hander Chris Murphy was roughed up for a pair of home runs in the team’s league-leading 31st use of an opener. Martin might have been fine without the help, but a one-run loss had him kicking himself for an errant pickoff throw that skipped away from first baseman Munetaka Murakami in the fifth as Rocchio — who else? — raced home from third.

Even though the Sox ran up the pitch count against a Guardians starter for the second consecutive night and hung a crooked number against the bullpen in the sixth, the slim margin made Murakami’s 0-for-4, four-strikeout night impossible to hide.

‘‘It’s not like moving him in the lineup is going to magically fix his swing,’’ Venable said. ‘‘As you look at how we’re compiling our lineups and want to give yourself the best chance, he’s still a part of that.’’

Just as difficult as what the Sox lost is what lies ahead: a game for the American League Central lead Wednesday against Guardians All-Star Parker Messick, with Taylor, Sean Newcomb and Hagen Smith all having been used for multiple innings on successive nights.

Tuesday was the game the Sox were set up to win to guarantee leaving Cleveland in first place. But for a host of reasons, all aggravating in their own right, it slipped away.

‘‘You can’t just say, ‘Oh, it’s OK. We’ll brush it off,’ ’’ Martin said. ‘‘Feel it as long as you want to feel it and accept it. And then come back tomorrow hungry.’’