Well, these were back-to-back games that made you want to slam your head in a wall, but that’s baseball, right? In a game that traded leads a couple of times — including an absolutely ridiculous, three-run homer from Tommy Pham — Cleveland had the last laugh once again, as a four-run sixth inning gave the Guardians a three-run lead that held up, 6-3.
Lefthander Anthony Kay tossed a solid outing despite two unearned runs in his box score. In his four innings, Kay only surrendered two hits with two walks
while striking out three, and was throwing GAS today. The lefty typically averages around 95-96 mph for both his sinker and fastball, but today was hanging in the upper-90s, topping out at 99.2 mph while tossing three of the fastest pitches in the game. On top of that, his changeup had a bit more spin on it today that added about a two-inch increase horizontal break, which got batters to whiff every time they swung at it (3-of-7) at a 42% called-strike-plus whiff rate (CSW%).
Both runs that scored in the bottom of the third were due to an error made by Chase Meidroth while attempting to turn a double play. Petey Halpin led the inning off with a base hit, and with one out, Steven Kwan hit a grounder to Chase at second, who seemingly had an easy double play to tag Halpin and toss it over to first to get Kwan. Meidroth probably should have made the tag with two hands to ensure that he at least got ONE out, but the ball flew out of the glove as he tagged Halpin, which allowed the rookie to move into scoring position.
Kay was able to work soft contact out of José Ramírez to get the second out of the inning, although unable to get the much-needed double-play ball. Let us be reminded that errors and walks will always kill, and sadly the Meidroth error came back to haunt the South Siders as Jo Adell ripped a two-run base hit out to left to take a two-run lead.
After working through that brief chaotic period, Kay settled down and was able to work through the fourth without too much issue. The southpaw had used just 66 pitches through four, and it felt like a bit of a panicked move for Will Venable to decide to go to the bullpen early, in the fifth, to bring lefthander Hagen Smith in. With the way Kay was throwing today, he seemed to definitely have at least one more inning in him before needing to rely on the bullpen. But we could debate this until we are blue in the face, and either way, the White Sox lost the game.
On the other end of the ball, the White Sox had actually outhit the Guardians this game, 8-5. The issue, however, for the billionth time this season (don’t fact-check me, but I’m sure it’s a close estimate), the team could not execute with runners in scoring position: 1-for-8 while stranding eight runners. In fact, the White Sox mashed seven of those eight against Parker Messick in his six innings, but also struck out eight times along the way.
Their lack of ability to score in the first inning after Randal Grichuk smoked a one-out triple set the tone early. Once again Miguel Vargas simply needed to make some contact — any contact would have been a good start! — but he struck out on a high pitch out of the zone, and Tommy Pham grounded out to end the frame, in his first plate appearance after elevator-lobbying his way into the game.
The South Siders loaded the bases up in the fourth with base hits from Vargas and Brenton Doyle, and Colson Montgomery was hit by a pitch in the wrist for the third base runner with … Luisangel Acuña up to bat. It was not lost on me that it was just the fourth inning, but having that meaningful of an opportunity and letting Acuña take the plate appearance feels … icky. The AB ended just as you’d expect, too, with a ground out to the shortstop to end the inning. Pain. The only good news in this situation is that Montgomery’s X-rays came back negative, and he will be day-to-day.
All game, Meidroth was attempting to start a rally, going 3-for-5 on the day with a two-bagger, marking his fifth hit in the last two games from the leadoff position (5-for-10). Outside of the rally in the fifth that scored all three South Side runs, the rest of the lineup just could not come through in the clutch. Except Tommy. Freaking. Pham.
If you were like me, you were probably punching the air while yelling about the bonkers decision that GM Chris Getz and Venable made to bat Pham in the cleanup position in his first game off of the IL. Especially given that, prior to today’s game, he has had exactly ONE (1) at-bat in MLB since APRIL, and has been on the injured list since then. Meidroth and Grichuk worked back-to-back base hits with one out in the top of the fifth, looking to ignite the offense with Vargas coming up to bat. Vargas was likely looking for another fastball, but ended up getting way too out front on a changeup and flew out to right, bringing none other than Pham up with two outs. The 38-year-old had hit the ball hard (104.4 mph) in his first at-bat, but in the inning prior he went down on strikes after staring at a fastball down the middle; needless to say the confidence in him producing wasn’t really there.
But Pham proved us all wrong. On the very first pitch, he blasted a three-run, no-doubt bomb to give the Sox a one-run lead, 3-2, completely turning the game on its head and rendering me speechless. I’m sure he saw people talking smack and knew the consensus around his addition to the lineup was generally negative, so naturally he rose to the occasion to prove everyone wrong. I will stand on 10 toes to say that I was absolutely someone that was not a fan of Pham being selected to bat fourth in a must-win game, but TOMMY, I WAS WRONG: 412-feet with a loud crack off of the bat … bravo. This is the type of psychopathic behavior that we love to see.
That truly could have been the magical home run that saved the White Sox season, but alas, they couldn’t maintain the lead, and the game became un-fun in about 10-15 minutes. Pham’s malevolent homer flashed the clutch, home-run hitting White Sox that we’ve seen all season, but it’s such a brutal punch to the gut knowing that a guy with a Backyard Baseball name like Petey Halpin crushed the South Side momentum like a tiny little lego under a hydraulic press.
As the game moved into the bottom of the fifth, Smith came in and was able to get through the frame despite José Ramírez hitting the first of two doubles on the day. But as has been the case each game this series, things started to go haywire in the sixth. Smith managed to get two outs, but his two walks ended up coming back to bite Chicago. The worst part, truly, is that Smith surrendered walks to David Gry and Austin Hedged, who are better matchups ahead of potential killers such as Brayan Rocchio in the 9-hole.
Instead of letting the southpaw face Halpin as the 8-hitter, Venable turned to the third lefty of the game, and Sean Newcomb was chosen to try to clean up Smith’s mess and escape the inning with the lead. As good as Newcomb has been, he was immediately rocked for a three-run homer from Halpin. Petey was batting just .029 against southpaws in 40 plate appearances with a -76 wRC+ and a .108 OPS. Smith has been throwing some nasty pitches, and could potentially have been a better match against the rookie outfielder. Again, everything is in hindsight so who knows, maybe the Halpin homer was as destined as Pham’s.
Newcomb has been excellent all season, but unfortunately the Guardians beat him today. On a 3-1 count, Newcomb served up a sinker that hung mostly down the middle of the plate, and Halpin turned on the pitch and blasted a three-run shot to right, handing the lead back over to Cleveland, 5-3.
Newcomb walked both Rocchio and Kwan to put two runners on for Ramírez, who knocked his second double of the game to score an insurance run for the Guardians, completely erasing Pham’s miraculous homer. After the Ramírez RBI, Venable went to the bullpen for the second time in the inning, and thankfully Jordan Hicks was able to strike Adell out to get out of the inning. In his one appearance this series, Hicks was ready when we needed him most, but that was all for today.
For the final two frames, lefthander Noah Schultz made his first relief appearance of the season, and his first MLB outing since early August. Schultz was solid for both innings, and retired all six Cleveland batters that he faced in order to keep the White Sox at just a three-run deficit.
Both Kyle Teel and Munetaka Murakami — in for Colson — drew walks to put two runners on with two outs in the eighth, giving the South Siders another chance to get back in the game. You better believe it, Acuña was due up to bat again in a huge situation, but Sam Antonacci pinch-hit for him after the Guardians brought in Cade Smith. The Matrix had already glitched once earlier in the game for the Pham homer, and maybe in another timeline Antonacci blasts the game-tying bomb — but not in this one.
The Good Guys went down in order in the top of the ninth, giving Smith his 37th save of the season after 1 1/3 innings, striking out the first and last batter of the inning to slam the door on the White Sox. We all knew Chicago needed to win AT LEAST one game this series. They did that, and they have the tiebreaker. That’s all cool and fun, but wow, these last two games were truly heartbreaking.
Chicago will head back home tonight with a sour taste in their mouths, but there’s still a way into the postseason, despite how flat it feels after these three in Cleveland. Righthander Erick Fedde is set to go against Framber Valdez of the Detroit Tigers as they kick off a four-game set in the Southside jerseys, honoring Tim Anderson’s career with the White Sox.
I’m gonna go cry now. Let’s try again tomorrow, I guess.
MVP
Tommy Pham: 1-for-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, K
Runners-Up
Anthony Kay: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 3 K
Randal Grichuk: 2-for-5, R, K, 3B
Chase Meidroth: 3-for-5, R, 2B, E (cost 2 R)
Noah Schultz: 2 IP, 0 H
Cold-Cat
Sean Newcomb: 0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K, Blown Save (2)
Runners-Up
Hagen Smith: 1 2/3 IP, H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K, LOSS (3-2)
Luisangel Acuña: 0-for-3, K
Tristan Peters: 0-for-4, K
Chase Meidroth: 3-for-5, R, 2B, E (cost 2 R)
