The White Sox spent the night flailing and failing at the plate. The Good Guys mustered just four hits, struck out 14 times, and had a 1-for-5 showing with runners in scoring position. The offense was flat as a pancake from the first pitch to the last. Sonny Gray cruised through six innings, and after the third, Chicago never stepped on third base again. Boston officially clinched the series, and the misery continued for the South Siders.
Sean Burke didn’t have his best stuff, but he gutted out 4
1/3 innings and kept Chicago from getting completely buried. Boston wasted no time in the bottom of the first when Wilyer Abreu singled, took second on a wild pitch, and trotted home on a Willson Contreras RBI knock. Burke kept flirting with disaster, always one out away from escape, but the Red Sox kept cashing in. Abreu tagged him for a solo shot in the third, and after a two-out walk in the fifth, Burke’s night was done. His final line: two runs, five hits, two walks, four Ks. It definitely could have been worse, but not exactly a highlight reel.
The lone flicker of hope for Chicago came in the third when Sam Antonacci got plunked, Munetaka Murakami walked, and Miguel Vargas ripped a two-out single. Unfortunately, Antonacci got gunned down at the plate, threat over, cue the sad trombone.
Andrew Benintendi’s double off the Green Monster in the fourth and Vargas’ second single in the sixth were the only other blips on the radar against Gray — otherwise, crickets.
Boston padded its lead with an unearned tally off Sean Newcomb in the seventh. Jarren Duran singled, swiped second, took third on a Drew Romo misfire (shocking) and scored on an Andruw Monasterio sac fly. They scored off Chris Murphy in the eighth, too, when Abreu walked, stole second, and Caleb Durbin drove him in with an RBI single. The Carmines were just piling on at this point.
Newcomb worked 1 2/3 innings with just the one unearned run, Murakami turned an unassisted double play to wipe out Burke’s last baserunner, and newly acquired Huascar Brazobán tossed a solid frame. Not that any of that mattered as Boston’s hurlers never let the White Sox get off the mat. Chicago mustered only a lone base hit from Sam Antonacci and a walk to Colson over the final three innings.
Next up tomorrow for the Good Guys will be Luis Castillo’s debut, and a last-ditch shot at avoiding the broom.
MVP
Miguel Vargas: 2-for-3, BB, K
Runners-Up
Andrew Benintendi: 1-for-3, K
Sam Antonacci: 1-for-3
Sean Newcomb: 1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), K
Huascar Brazobán: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K
Cold Cat
Sean Burke: 4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K, L
