As if serving only to keep the upstart White Sox sober, checking any overconfidence stoked by a second half that wasn’t as miserable as the first, the Washington Nationals proved themselves the superior team in a 6-5 win on Saturday, and in the series so far.
The nasty Nats turned a gamelong two-run deficit into a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning, as once more the South Side pen served notice it was not ready for prime time. Bulk pitcher Sean Burke was brilliant in his 4 1/3 innings, striking out 10
and sailing through a stretch of five straight Ks late in his outing.
Departing with a 4-2 lead as the pitcher of record, Burke’s likely win was wiped off of the board almost immediately when stable righty Steven Wilson came in to start the seventh and surrendered two more hits (sharp single, Jacob Young homer) than he did outs.
Bradon Eisert was summoned to hold the 4-4 margin still — and immediately failed in that endeavor by juicing his underwhelming fastball center-cut and waist-high to James Wood:
The two teams traded runs late, arriving at the 6-5 final
The White Sox were hosed, however, in the eighth when Chase Meidroth answered WDC’s home run barrage with a leadoff double but was called out for a microscopic moment of losing contact with the bag. Not running past or oversliding, mind you, but for a hiccup. This is not a sound use of replay, MLB — and I’d say the same if the call was against a Nats player sneezing off of the bag. If the naked eye can’t catch the runner’s flub, let’s not give the yielding team the chance to Zapruder it.
Another Kyle Teel passed ball — yes, his EIGHTH in just 492 innings behind the plate — set the stage for Wood to pad the Nats lead with an insurance single off of the seasonlong slumping southpaw Cam Booser.
With the rain that initially delayed the game 40 minutes now puddling the infield and down 6-4 into last bats, the White Sox rallied thanks to singles from Edgar Quero and Lenyn Sosa, along with a wild pitch. Newcomer Derrick Hill had an impressive if not overwhelming at-bat, in protection mode at 1-2 but poking a ground ball to second base that due both to infield much and Hill’s wheels turned into an infield hit and moved the tying run to third. Alas, Meidroth went down 0-2 on inside pitches and then poofed a half-swing at a 100 mph fastball at his eyes to end it.
Way back when the field was still largely dry, the South Siders had been shut down for the first two innings by sub-mediocre starter Jake Irvin whoever, but when you’re facing a starter with an ERA aspiring to 6.00, shutdowns should not be permanent.
The White Sox whiz kids, Teel and Colson Montgomery, saw fit to break the spell. After a Teel single, Colson showed off his whip-smart bat speed once more:
Not wanting to be left behind in any sort of Youth Movement forward, Brooks Baldwin clocked one out after a Miguel Vargas walk and steal, and the Good Guys went up, 4-0:
Alas, Burke could not sustain the good fortune, serving up a gopher ball on his won after Baldwin (you’re back out of the Youth Movement, Brooks) booted a ball with one out in the Nats half. Here’s the sequence, for you masochists (and you know you all are):
That was Burke’s only burp in the game, though, as he melted through the Nats, 10 of his first 13 outs coming via K. And even when a Josh Bell double broke the spell, Burke tidied up and finished Washington off with two more Ks to escape.
The White Sox fell to an astoundingly poor 15-36 in one-run games. It’s tempting to tab a wheezing pen for the full weight of that record, as blown saves and full meltdowns make the ledes of game recaps. But don’t you dare give the White Sox Wiffle offense a not guilty verdict, as the lineup both pre- and post-rookies onslaught has been peppered with some of the most consistently flaccid hitters this franchise has ever seen.
The loss drops the White Sox to 59-102, tying them with the malodorous 1932 team for third-most losses in franchise history. The White Sox now have lost 324 games since Opening Day 2023, giving them the outright 11th-worst stretch of 486 (aka three seasons ) in major league history; if studied strictly from Opening day to final game, the White Sox in all likelihood possess the fourth-worst three-season record of the modern (1961-on) era.
