The White Sox (59-53) folded on offense and waved the white flag on the mound as the Red Sox (61-51) rolled to a 14-2 victory in Tuesday’s series opener, outhitting Chicago, 15-6. Davis Martin floundered through five innings while Patrick Sandoval worked smoothly through the South Siders despite struggling with his control, earning the W for the Red Sox.
Tonight was the second time this season that Martin has allowed nine runs; the other was June 16, while visiting the Yankees, when things really
started to go downhill. There are definitely some red flags to consider as we head into crunch time in a tight division race, since this was the third outing in a row where he surrendered four or more runs. Davis owned a 3.62 ERA just a few hours ago, but Tuesday’s implosion has inflated it to 4.13 on the season. In his last seven starts (34 1/3 innings), he owns a rough 6.55 ERA with a 1.60 WHIP, and he’s been striking guys out at a much lower rate with just 20 Ks in this time span.
There may have been at least one explanation for Tuesday’s disaster. After the game, manager Will Venable said Davis Martin was tipping his pitches, an issue catcher Kyle Teel identified during the game and brought to the coaching staff’s attention. That doesn’t erase Martin’s recent struggles, but it does provide some context for why Boston’s hitters looked so comfortable from the opening inning.
Martin’s recent inconsistency is still worth monitoring. While tipping pitches may have contributed to Tuesday’s outing, his results over the past several starts have been uneven. His recent inconsistencies were one of the main reasons I was hoping Chris Getz would trade for another starting pitcher before Monday’s deadline, especially when everyone not named Sean Burke is a wild card when they start. Before the All-Star break — through June, really — Davis looked like he was approaching ace status, but he has been regressing lately, and it’s hard to imagine how he would perform in a playoff game at this moment in time. I’m still optimistic, and I’ve not given up on him by any means, but if we are being realistic, there’s quite a bit of uncertainty around his performance for the remainder of the season.
Right off the bat, Nick Sogard rattled Martin with a leadoff double off the Green Monster, then hit Ceddanne Rafaela square in the back on a curveball that got away to put two runners on. Davis navigated an out on a deep fly that advanced the runners, but back-to-back base hits from Willson Contreras and Masataka Yoshida scored the first run for the Red Sox, 1-0, and then loaded the bases with just one out. Naturally, Caleb Durbin demolished the second pitch he saw for a grand slam over the Green Monster in left, increasing the Boston lead to five, 5-0.
The way Boston has played over the last month needs to be studied for generations, because whatever chokehold they currently have on the baseball gods seems to be enough to overpower both the Pope AND a wizard. What I mean by that is Jarren Duran blasted a solo shot for the Red Sox to go back-to-back, tallying six earned for Davis in just the first inning, 6-0. Ouch.
It took 26 pitches for Martin to get out of the first, but he was fairly efficient through the next four frames, using just eight pitches in the third, ranging up to 15 in the other three. Davis did eventually work a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, and the South Siders finally scored a run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Miguel Vargas, 6-1. Miguel’s fly out seemed like it was sailing over the Monster before it was caught against it.
But of course, the Good Guys did not carry that momentum through their at-bats in the fifth inning: Randal Grichuk grounded into a double play to end the scoring threat, and Davis conceded his third home run of the game in the bottom of the fifth to hand the run right back and increase the Boston lead back to six, 7-1.
Still, the White Sox didn’t quit, making Patrick Sandoval work in some tough at-bats while drawing four free passes. Consecutive walks in the sixth put runners on for the Good Guys, but they managed only one run on Braden Montgomery’s RBI ground out. The Chicago bats went just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base, so they could have walked several more times and probably still wouldn’t have been able to catch up without some clutch hits.
Earning his first official win of the season, Sandoval had a much better day on the mound and only gave up the two runs on six hits while striking out five. The Boston bullpen didn’t seem to have a problem either, as the South Siders didn’t get another hit after five, and Brayan Bello was set up nicely for a three-inning save, his first of the season.
On the other hand, Chicago went to righthander Erick Fedde out of the bullpen, who was tasked with essentially eating innings and getting through this disastrous game. Still, he, too, gave up five runs (four earned) on five hits, and that was on top of two more runs attributed to Martin. Not that the bats were promising enough to complete the five-run comeback, but the Red Sox tallied a half-dozen between the two pitchers in the sixth to extend the lead to 13-2.
It almost felt like things were going to settle down so we could just end the suffering, and I could stop watching, but Fedde went out with a bang, and Abreu blasted his second bomb of the game on a solo shot to pour salt in Chicago’s gaping wound, 14-2. Bello was able to retire the Sox in order during their final at-bats, and the South Siders need to reset after that wimpy performance in the series opener.
The only good news of the night is that both the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins lost Tuesday, leaving the White Sox to reflect on that horrific game while still holding a three-game division lead. Righthander Sean Burke is on the mound tomorrow as the Good Guys attempt to revive themselves and even out the series, so we’ll do it again tomorrow and hope for the best.
MVP
Miguel Vargas: 0-for-2, RBI, BB, 2 K, SF
Braden Montgomery: 0-for-3, RBI, BB
Runners Up
Chase Meidroth: 1-for-3, R, BB, K
Colson Montgomery: 1-for-3, R, BB
Brenton Doyle: 1-for-2, outfield assist in first game as a White Sox
Cold Cat
Davis Martin: 5 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 2 BB, K, 3 HR, HB, LOSS (9-5)
Erick Fedde: 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R (4 ER), BB, K, HR
Randal Grichuk: 1-for-4, 2B, GIDP, E
