CLEVELAND — Chicago White Sox relievers lost their command in the sixth inning Wednesday against the Cleveland Guardians. And the Sox lost their grip on the American League Central. The Sox fell to second place in the division with a 6-3 loss to the Guardians in front of 23,336 at Progressive Field. The Sox had held at least a share of the Central lead since July 4. The Guardians took over ...

Anthony Kay of the Chicago White Sox throws a pitch during the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Cleveland.

Nick Cammett/Getty Images North America/TNS

CLEVELAND — Chicago White Sox relievers lost their command in the sixth inning Wednesday against the Cleveland Guardians.

And the Sox lost their grip on the American League Central.

The Sox fell to second place in the division with a 6-3 loss to the Guardians in front of 23,336 at Progressive Field. The Sox had held at least a share of the Central lead since July 4.

The Guardians took over first place, a half-game ahead of the Sox, who not only are in a battle for the division but for a wild-card berth. They hold the No. 3 AL wild card, 11/2 games ahead of Texas. The Rangers host the Boston Red Sox later Wednesday.

The Sox have 10 games remaining in the regular season.

“Tough to not have that lead, but at the same time we’ve got a long ways to go here, a lot can happen,” manager Will Venable said.

The game turned in the sixth. Sox reliever Hagen Smith issued a pair of walks before Petey Halpin hit a three-run home run against Sean Newcomb that gave the Guardians a 5-3 lead.

Newcomb then walked Brayan Rocchio, who later scored on a double by José Ramírez. The Guardians scored four runs in the inning off the two hits and four walks.

“Just not finishing pitches in general, like the sinker to Halpin,” Newcomb said. “Missed middle. And it was the same with the walks, just trying to be too fine.”

Even though they dropped two of three, the Sox (77-75) hold the tiebreaker over the Guardians (78-75) if the teams finish the regular season even, by virtue of winning the season series 7-6. But they’ll have work to do in pursuit of what would be their first division crown since 2021.

“Right now everyone knows the value of each game,” designated hitter Tommy Pham said.

The Sox fell behind early Wednesday, with the Guardians taking advantage of an error to score twice in the third inning.

Chase Meidroth fielded Steven Kwan’s grounder to second but couldn’t secure the ball when he attempted to tag Halpin. The ball rolled into center field as Halpin advanced to third on the error.

Halpin remained on third, and Kwan advanced to second on a groundout.

With two outs, Jo Adell hit a liner just out of shortstop Luisangel Acuña’s reach for a single. Two runs scored on the hit, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead.

The Sox attempted to respond in the fourth. Batting with two on and two out, Colson Montgomery was hit by a pitch. That loaded the bases for Acuña, who grounded into a forceout at second base to end the inning. Montgomery later exited the game with a left wrist bruise. X-rays were negative, and the infielder is day to day.

The Sox made the most of another opportunity in the fifth. Pham — reinstated from the injured list earlier Wednesday — came up with two on and two out. He homered on a first-pitch curveball, putting the Sox ahead 3-2.

“It’s a great feeling, gave us the lead at the time,” Pham said. “Just, too, from a team perspective we’ve been struggling with men in scoring position. So to come through, kind of lift the monkey off the team’s back. But we ended up losing, man, so it’s pointless.”

Sox starter Anthony Kay pitched four innings — allowing two runs (zero earned) on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks — before giving way to Smith. The lefty pitched a scoreless fifth inning. In the sixth, he walked David Fry with one out and Austin Hedges with two outs.

“The decision to send Hagen back out, because he’s been so good, was really the debatable one in which we’re asking a lot of him and he had just been so good,” Venable said. “You look back over the last week, it’s been two innings, a day off, two innings, a day off, two innings, and that was a really big ask there.

“We know the way to give this team the chance is extra opportunities via errors and walks, and that just bit us there.”

The Sox brought in Newcomb, who fell behind in the count 3-1 to Halpin. He threw a sinker, and Halpin knew right away that he got it all, sending it over the wall in right-center for the go-ahead three-run home run.

“That was just not the spot I’m trying to put it,” Newcomb said. “Trying to get the sinker in there to get some weak contact down. It was kind of middle-middle.”

The Guardians extended the lead to 6-3 with Ramírez’s RBI double later in the inning.

The Sox brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth, but Sam Antonacci lined out to center field to end the inning. They finished 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

“Really good stuff to get guys on base, just not being able to string quite enough together to push more across,” Venable said.

Cade Smith struck out two of three in the ninth, sending the Sox to their 12th loss in the last 17 games.

“It was a tough series, that’s a good characterization of that one,” Venable said. “Obviously the results there are not what we want. I am proud of the guys. I think we’re in a good spot.

“There’s been a stretch there where we were not playing good baseball. And for the last four, five games we’ve been playing good baseball. Not the results we want, but I think we’re in a good spot moving forward with some really good things happening.”

Up next is a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers at Rate Field.

“Just got to keep going, keep getting better,” Kay said. “Can’t really worry about the past, just got to play the next one.”

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