The White Sox (55-51) waited until the bottom of the ninth to score any runs, and ironically ended up outhitting the Yankees (61-46), but they couldn’t make the full comeback and fell just short, 3-2. Chase Meidroth saved the day from a 3-0 shutout, mashing a homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but the bats were mostly quiet and couldn’t provide run support for their pitching staff.
Giving the White Sox bullpen a bit of a reprieve from Monday night, Anthony Kay labored through 5 1/3 innings,
looking sharp outside of his 29-pitch second inning. The lefty started the game on a high note by striking out the side in the top of the first — the first three of seven Ks during today’s outing — but we can’t say the same about the next frame.
Back-to-back singles from Jasson Domínguez and Trent Grisham led off the second frame and kicked off their three-run rally. Kay uncorked a wild pitch to move both runners into scoring position before Anthony Volpe lined a double off the top of the wall in right, scoring Domínguez. The southpaw worked around Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a strikeout, but Max Schuemann doubled to left to score another two runs to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.
Kay was otherwise solid, and when a batter did reach base, he was able to work around it. The main issue, however, is that he received zero run support from the offense, which mustered only three hits while Kay was in the game. It helped that Kay gutted through five-plus innings, but without any run support, it hardly mattered.
Kay put Domínguez on for the second time to lead off the sixth, hitting his 20th batter of the season, and his 10th batter in his last nine starts. Though there was some weird communication between Tristan Peters and Braden Montgomery in right-center, Braden was able to snow cone the ball at the last second for the out.
That marked the end of the day for Kay, as righthander Jordan Hicks came in to close out the inning. Things got a little dicey after Domínguez stole second, which was confirmed after the White Sox attempted to challenge to see if his foot might have slipped off the base. Hicks intentionally walked Chisholm to avoid giving him a chance to do damage, and Aaron Boone opted to pinch-hit Spencer Jones for Schuemann, who struck out on three straight pitches to end the inning.
While all of that was happening, Gerrit Cole effectively shut down the South Siders for all six of his innings. The veteran allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out seven; the main difference between Cole’s outing and Kay’s is that the Yankees finagled three runs, while the South Siders went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left seven on base. The South Siders had their best chance in the bottom of the fourth and made Cole navigate through a bases-loaded jam with 32 pitches. Still, unfortunately, they couldn’t capitalize on a Munetaka Murakami leadoff double and a pair of walks.
Miguel Vargas had walked to put two on after the Murakami double, but Colson Montgomery flew out while Andrew Benintendi wasn’t able to beat out a slow dribbler that went to short off the end of his bat. Braden walked to load the bases up, bringing Peters up to the plate. Peters entered hitting .280 with runners in scoring position, but he couldn’t cash in, flying out to shallow left and ending the threat.
Entering the game for Hicks, Tyler Schweitzer put together three solid frames as a long reliever to eat innings while hoping the offense would eventually make the comeback. Spoiler alert: they did not, but Schweitzer allowed just one hit and walked two while striking out one, and kept the Sox in a position to close the gap and win the game. The Yankees could hardly hit the ball after the second inning, but the South Siders could not take advantage of it.
Cole was able to regain control for the fifth and sixth innings and shut the Good Guys down. New York’s bullpen ranks second in MLB with a 3.07 ERA, trailing only their rivals, the Boston Red Sox (3.02). They seemed to be cruising tonight as well, as both Angel Chivilli and Ryan Headrick earned a hold with just one hit allowed (Headrick), but no harm was done. And that’s not including the excellent defensive plays by Chisholm, who stole a pair of base hits, including taking a double away from Colson for a ground out deep into the first and second-base hole.
The first was the first batter of the game for the White Sox:
And the second was slick and extremely clutch:
That clutch play from Jazz in the eighth likely saved the game for the Yankees. Righthander David Bednar came into the game with a 24-inning consecutive scoreless streak, looking to extend it to 25 and close the game out for a shutout win. Bednar struck out Benintendi and Peters, with Peters going down looking after a called ball was overturned to a strike. Braden, who had singled and moved into scoring position, brought Chase Meidroth to the plate. Meidroth wasn’t ready to go home and ended Bednar’s scoreless streak with a two-run homer over the South Side bullpen in left field, bringing the game within one, 3-2.
Since Will Venable had already decided to pinch-hit Randal Grichuk for Sam Antonacci in the bottom of the eighth, there wasn’t much power left on the bench to pinch-hit for Romo. Everson Pereira was called upon, and though he battled through an eight-pitch at-bat, Bednar was able to strike him out on a splitter on the outside corner to end the game.
With the Cleveland Guardians defeating the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5, the White Sox remain in first place with a 1 1/2-game lead in the division. They will need the bats to step up and capitalize on situations where the other team is handing out free base runners, just like Cole did in the fourth. Either way, they couldn’t get a rally going to save their lives, so it’s time to try to brush this one off and come back tomorrow ready to take on Cam Schlittler.
White Sox MVPs
Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 K
Braden Montgomery: 2-for-3, R, BB, K
Chase Meidroth: 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR
Jordan Hicks: 2/3 IP, 0 H, IBB, 2 K
Tyler Schweitzer: 3 IP, H, 2 BB, K
White Sox Cold Cats
Sam Antonacci: 0-for-3, K
Colson Montgomery: 0-for-4, K
Tristan Peters: 0-for-4, 2 K
Anthony Kay: 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, BB, 7 K, WP, HB, LOSS (7-5)
