It’s safe to assume the White Sox and Guardians will spend the next few months battling each other for the top spot in the American League Central. The Sox came out ahead in the first meeting between the two teams, taking the first two games of this week’s three-game series.

In all, the games were decided by a total margin of three runs. A 6-5 walk-off win on Monday, holding tight to a 2-1 victory Tuesday, and then staging a ninth-inning rally to tie Wednesday’s game before falling short in extras, 4-3. Nothing about the series was easy or simple, and at no point did the White Sox seem unable to compete.

That’s probably indicative of how these matchups are going to go until the season ends.

“It was a great series,” manager Will Venable said. “To be able to win a series against these guys means a lot. At the same time, we were challenged a lot throughout this series and some things that we can grow from and learn from. Some things we’ve got to clean up.”

What hurt the White Sox most on Wednesday was stranding runners in scoring position. They went 0-for-9, and the majority of those run-scoring opportunities came in the last three innings of the game. In the tenth, the Sox had the bases loaded with just one out, but Chase Meidroth’s ground ball turned into a force out at home, and then Braden Montgomery grounded out to first base to end the game.

On one hand, those are frustrating results considering the microcosm of a single game and what can feel like a wasted opportunity to have swept the Guardians and maintained a lead at the top of the division. But if there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Sox were even in a position to play extra innings at all on Wednesday.

Down to their last out in the ninth inning and trailing by two runs, Braden Montgomery and Randal Grichuk hit back-to-back home runs against Cade Smith, one of the best closers in the American League.

“It says we are not rolling over for anybody,” Montgomery said of the Sox’ ninth-inning rally. “You have to put your best foot forward and give yourself the best chance to find success. If you don’t, then you don’t. We are going to put our best foot forward every time.”

In a way, it’s refreshing for the White Sox to not be happy with just moral victories. If the Sox have shown anything through the first three months of the season, it’s much like what Montgomery said: They’re not going to lose easily, especially at home.

But with the critical turn of the season coming, when teams rest for a bit during the All- Star break and then make their moves at the trade deadline, there’s value in what the Sox are doing now. There’s a long way to go, but by winning series — especially against tough opponents like the Braves and Dodgers during the last homestand — and winning the kinds of games they have this week, as well as winning in the way that they have, the Sox are building something that Venable hopes will play off down the stretch.

There’s value that comes from stacking wins against teams in the AL Central, and from having the experience of winning a close, low-scoring game like Tuesday night’s.

“Every win is important, and when you bank a win, that’s meaningful, especially as you get through the summer and have expectations down the road,” Venable told CHGO. “I think in the case a divisional opponent, specifically the Guardians who are just so tough to beat, and the way they make those challenges, for us that just gives us confidence.

“It’s another type of game we can win. Where a lot of our games we outslug the opposition, [Tuesday] was a great example of how amazing it was to win a ‘Guardians-type game.’ And I know moving forward, at least the group has confidence that they’re able to win that game.”

It’s important to acknowledge that the White Sox are keeping their hold at the top of the AL Central — even if it is a shared spot at first place with Cleveland after Wednesday’s game — without one of their best hitters. The Sox are still averaging almost four-and-a-half runs per game with Munetaka Murakami out since May 30 with a hamstring strain. Their homerun-slugging first baseman could return soon; Venable said on Wednesday that Murakami is hitting against full-speed pitches in the cage and just needs to get to running full speed before the Sox can map out the next step, which could be a rehab assignment.

When Murakami does return, he will surely help galvanize a Sox team that has played with plenty of spirit in his absence. That likely can only bode well for what the second half of the season will look like. A second half that will feature a lot of games against their division, and what could be a crucial mid-September series at Rate Field against the Guardians.

“We took the series from a team that we’re battling for first place. Played it tough, could’ve swept them, which is huge. It’s a lot of confidence,” Grichuk said.

When that late-season series comes, the Sox can look back on what they’ve done this week against the Guardians, both in an emotional sense, like the confidence described by Grichuk and Montgomery, and in a purely practical sense.

“If nothing else, we have matchup history and game examples of plays that have happened, and when we do our advance report, we can draw on the experience that we’ve had with that team,” Venable said. “All those things are helpful. The familiarity is helpful, and to be able to look back on actual things that these guys have experienced and learn from this, it helps with your opponent in the future.”

Given how the first three White Sox-Guardians games have gone, it will probably take both things to come out ahead.