Sean Burke was lights out for six scoreless innings. Ryan Weathers of the Yankees was equally as good, but for seven.
Each starter gave up only three hits, Burke walking two and Weathers three, with Burke winning the battle of the K’s with 10 (one short of his career high) to Weathers’ four.
Burke was amazing. He came nowhere near the plate against the first two Yankee batters, but then Edgar Quero came out for a chat and must have had magic words, because Burke then struck out seven of the next eight.
Quero has many defensive weaknesses, but apparently a silver tongue.
The Sox bullpen followed with five scoreless innings, allowing only the Manfred Man to score in the 10th. Sean Newcomb handled two of those innings, albeit he had some nice help, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. following up a leadoff single in the seventh by dumbly wandering off base and easily being picked off, and Braden Montgomery making a nice grab in right.
The inning before, Braden got an assist when Jasson Domínguez dug for a triple with no outs, and, in an act of huge stupidity, overslid third by about 10 feet. Or maybe 20. That was just one example of Yankee brainlessness in the game, following through on losing Wednesday largely because of a dumb defensive move — it’s one thing to hit badly with three of your best hitters injured, but that doesn’t mean you have to park your brains in the clubhouse. The White Sox smartly took advantage.
Domínguez followed up his next time out by striking out on a pitch that was helmet high with two on and one out in the eighth. So he didn’t exactly atone.
With the pitchers in total domination, the game was 0-0 through regulation, reportedly the first such case between these two teams in 58 years. The Yankees helped the scorelessness by going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position to that point — the Sox had many fewer such opportunities.
On to the extras, for the second game in a row.
The Yankees scored their Manfred Man in the 10th on a Trent Grisham single with one out, but Chris Murphy got Ben Rice and Domínguez (yep, him again) to fly out.
The Sox matched the run when sub catcher Ali Sánchez — Yankee goat of last night — was unable to block a bouncer, sending the Manfred Man to third, and Andrew Benintendi hit what would have been a routine grounder, but went through the drawn-in infield for an RBI single. Chase Meidroth, who had walked three times earlier, ended the inning by hitting into a double play.
In the 11th, Will Venable dared to send Seranthony Domínguez to the mound, which probably had all available Sox fans throwing stuff at their TVs. He somehow didn’t give up a run.
That put the Sox in great shape. Meidroth began the 11th on second, Munetaka Murakami was intentionally walked, Miguel Vargas struck out, and Sam Antonacci beat out an infield single to first to load the bases.
At that point, Yankee reliever Fernando Cruz apparently decided he wanted to get an early start for home, so why bother keeping the game going? Since Sox batters couldn’t be counted on to hit in a run, he ran the count to 3-0 on Colson Montgomery, but after a couple of get-me-over strikes, Colson decided to swing at a ball that was bouncing in, making it bases loaded, two out.
Frustrated that he couldn’t walk in Colson, Cruz absolutely insisted on handing the Sox the game by throwing four straight balls to Tristan Peters, not a one of them remotely close.
Thus, it was 2-1 Sox, and a split of the four-game series. That runs their record to 57-51, with a trip to Tampa Bay for the weekend coming up. Erick Fedde (5-6) is scheduled to face Nick Martinez (10-2) tomorrow, and it’s highly unlikely the Rays will be nearly as boneheaded as the Yankees.
White Sox MVP
Duh — Sean Burke, 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K
Runners-Up
Fernando Cruz, for walking in the winning run
Jasson Dominguez, for a bunch of dumb stuff
(yeah, yeah, they’re on the other team — so what)
Cold Cat
Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery, 0-f0r-10 with 5 Ks between them
