Boy, oh, boy, do these guys need Thursday’s off-day.
Chicago’s (70-63) arms are cooked. Sean Burke lost the strike zone, and the Rangers took 10 free passes. Not that it mattered. The South Siders just kept swinging, Tristan Peters kept launching balls into orbit and somehow the Good Guys walked away with a 10-4 win and the series in hand.
Was it tidy? Absolutely not. Was it fun? You bet.
Burke had nothing from pitch one. He fell behind the first four hitters and handed Corey Seager a free pass with
one out, while his fastball velocity was down 0.4 mph. Four pitches into Wyatt Langford, Burke tried to pick off Seager. The ump called him safe, but Will Venable challenged and got the out. The successful challenge did nothing to fix Burke’s control, as he walked Langford with two outs. Fortunately, the Rangers bailed him out. Langford got greedy on a 2-2 pitch to Brandon Nimmo, and Jake Rogers gunned him down at second to end the mess.
Burke needed 22 pitches to survive the first, throwing only 10 for strikes. Buckle up.
The bottom half was less chaotic but equally frustrating. Miguel Vargas worked a six-pitch walk, his 20th free pass of August, but Munetaka Murakami pounded a 3-1 pitch into the ground for a double play. Randal Grichuk followed with a strikeout, and MacKenzie Gore escaped without breaking a sweat.
Burke continued searching for the strike zone in the second. He issued a one-out walk to Ezequiel Duran and surrendered a single to Evan Carter, although he appeared to find a little more feel for his fastball toward the end of the inning. He retired the next two batters to strand both runners, but his pitch count had already ballooned to 52.
Thankfully, the offense decided to give him some breathing room.
Chase Meidroth opened the bottom of the second with a double, and Braden Montgomery immediately drove him home with an RBI double to right. Brenton Doyle kept the line moving with a single to left that scored Braden, although Doyle was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.
Rogers restarted the rally with a base hit to center, and after Peters flew out, Luisangel Acuña bounced a ground-rule double into the stands to put runners on second and third. Texas intentionally walked Vargas to pack the sacks for Mune, but Murakami struck out to leave them loaded.
Still, the Sox had a 2-0 lead. That lasted approximately five minutes.
Burke opened the third by walking Cody Freeman, and Joc Pederson promptly launched a two-run homer to tie the game. After Seager flew out, Burke walked Langford for the second time, balked him to second and appeared to get strike two on Nimmo on a 3-1 pitch. Nimmo was already halfway to first when he challenged the call, and the automated system agreed with him. Ball four.
Somehow, Burke pulled himself together long enough to punch out Ezequiel Duran and Evan Carter, escaping with the score still tied. It took him 81 pitches to record nine outs, though, which is generally not the preferred ratio.
The Sox did not give Burke much time to contemplate his life choices. Grichuk lined out, Meidroth walked, Braden flew out and Doyle struck out to send him right back to the mound.
For some reason, Venable allowed Burke to come back out for the fourth. He walked the first two batters, because of course he did, and FINALLY the skipper went to the bullpen.
Burke’s night ended after three-plus innings, two hits, two earned runs and a career-high eight walks. If Texas were a competent baseball team, those eight free passes might have buried the Sox.
Instead, Sean Newcomb came riding to the rescue.
Newcomb got Freeman on a sacrifice bunt before coaxing a pop out from Pederson and a fly out from Seager. Two inherited runners, zero runs. What an enormous job by Newcomb to bail out his teammate and keep the game tied.
The Sox rewarded him immediately.
Peters ripped a one-out double in the fourth, and Acuña followed with a single to center to put runners on the corners. Vargas worked his way into a 3-0 count before dropping a duck snort just inside the first-base line, driving in Peters and moving Acuña to second.
It was not majestic, but it counted all the same. The Sox had reclaimed a 3-2 lead.
Acuña was caught stealing third with Mune at the plate, but Murakami eventually worked a walk to end Gore’s night. Venable then sent Sam Antonacci up to pinch-hit for Grichuk, and Antonacci delivered a clutch RBI single to make it 4-2.
Newcomb returned for the fifth and surrendered a pair of singles, but Braden made an outstanding play in right to end the threat and preserve the two-run cushion.
Then it was time for the Tristan Peters Show.
Rogers worked a huge two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, and Peters promptly shot a laser over the right-field wall for his fifth home run in as many games.
Yes, five.
The two-run blast gave the White Sox a 6-2 lead and put Peters alongside Murakami and Ron Kittle as the only rookies in franchise history to homer in five consecutive games. Peters also tied the White Sox record and the MLB rookie record for consecutive games with a home run.
Bananas Bonds strikes again.
Newcomb finally delivered the first 1-2-3 inning by a White Sox pitcher in the sixth, and the offense responded by putting the game away.
Vargas led off with a single and took off for second. The throw sailed into center field, allowing him to scamper all the way to third. Murakami walked to put runners on the corners with nobody out, and Antonacci did what Antonacci does, sneaking a grounder between short and third to drive in Vargas.
After Meidroth flew out and Braden hit into a force out, Doyle stepped in with two aboard and two down.
Boom.
Doyle crushed a three-run homer to stretch the lead to 10-2 and turn the rest of the evening into something resembling a bullpen rehabilitation assignment.
Newcomb’s night ended after three magnificent scoreless innings. The southpaw allowed only two hits, did not issue a walk and struck out one. On a night when Burke could not locate anything and the pitching staff desperately needed length, Newcomb could not have been much better.
Jonathan Cannon took over in the seventh for his first major league appearance since April 12 after spending the past several months refining his mechanics in Charlotte. He struck out Seager before allowing a walk, a double and a single that brought home two runs. Cannon then walked old friend Nicky Lopez — he’s from Naperville, you know — but recovered with a fly out and a strikeout to escape the inning.
Peters led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle for the second consecutive night. Apparently, homering in five straight games is not enough for him. Unfortunately, Acuña followed with a double play, and Vargas struck out to end the inning.
Cannon made things interesting again in the eighth when Jake Burger doubled and Langford singled, but Texas failed to capitalize. Meidroth added a two-out single in the bottom half, giving the White Sox 15 hits on the night, and the Rangers never mounted the miraculous comeback necessary to spoil the party.
It was not exactly a pitching clinic, but who cares? The South Siders survived Burke’s eight walks, received three enormous innings from Newcomb and battered Texas pitching for the second consecutive night. Antonacci drove in two off the bench, Doyle collected four RBIs, Vargas reached base four times and Peters finished 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and two RBIs.
On the out-of-town scoreboard, the Tigers and Twins lost while the Guardians won. The White Sox maintain their 2 1/2-game advantage atop the AL Central and, mercifully, have Thursday off before opening a three-game series in Minnesota on Friday.
Get these pitchers some ice, a comfortable pillow and strict instructions not to pick up a baseball for at least 24 hours.
MVP
Brenton Doyle: 2-for-4, R, 4 RBI, HR
Runners-Up
Tristan Peters: 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, 2B
Miguel Vargas: 2-for-3, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, SB, K
Sam Antonacci: 2-for-3, 2 RBI
Chase Meidroth: 2-for-4, R, BB, 2B
Luisangel Acuña: 2-for-4, 2B, CS
Sean Newcomb: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K
Cold Cat
Sean Burke: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 8 BB, 3 K, PO
Runners-Up
Jonathan Cannon: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K
Randal Grichuk: 0-for-2, K
Munetaka Murakami: 0-for-3, R, 2 BB, 2 K
