The Cleveland Guardians lost, 1-0, to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night. All the White Sox had to do was beat the Kansas City Royals to reclaim first place in the AL Central.
Instead, they lost, 5-4. Apparently, taking control of your own destiny sounded a little too easy.
Bryan Hudson’s opening assignment was to get through the top of the Royals’ order. That plan lasted five batters. Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt Jr. opened with singles. After Jac Caglianone grounded out, Maikel Garcia drove in two
runs with a base hit and Vinnie Pasquantino doubled home another.
Having seen enough, skipper Will Venable called for bulk reliever Erick Fedde. The veteran punched out Salvador Perez before Kansas City tacked on an unearned run on a bad throw by Colson Montgomery to take a 4-0 lead. Fedde finally got out of the inning by getting John Rave to fly out. The opener strategy works considerably better when the opener gets more than one batter out.
Seth Lugo retired the South Siders in order in each of the first two innings, and Fedde needed an escape act to keep the Royals from adding to the lead in the second. Then the Sox remembered they were allowed to hit.
Chase Meidroth opened the third with a bunt base hit. Braden Montgomery singled, Sam Antonacci took one for the team and Kyle Teel delivered a two-run single. Miguel Vargas followed with an RBI knock, and Munetaka Murakami doubled to tie it, 4-4.
Chicago batted around in the inning and had a chance for more, but Meidroth popped out with the bases loaded to end the frame.
The Sox got another gift-wrapped opportunity in the fourth. Back-to-back singles from Braden and Antonacci chased Lugo, and Anthony Gose walked Teel to load the bases with one out. Vargas grounded into a double play. Four runs in the third, bases loaded in the fourth and somehow that was the end of the offense.
Fedde gave the Sox a chance after the ugly start, allowing no runs on four hits and two walks over 2 2/3 innings. Sean Newcomb got Chicago out of trouble in the fourth by striking out Jensen and getting the speedy Witt to ground into a double play. Hagen Smith handled the sixth with two strikeouts.
But Kansas City broke the tie in the seventh off Smith. Jensen singled, Witt reached on a force out and Garcia doubled him home for a 5-4 Royals lead. That one run held up with alarming ease.
Lucas Erceg needed just nine pitches to retire the Sox in the eighth. In the ninth, Meidroth struck out on three pitches, Colson Montgomery went down on five and Braden singled to give Antonacci one last shot. He flied out to end it.
The Royals played spoiler, but the Sox did plenty to help them. Chicago wiped out a four-run deficit, stranded a bases-loaded chance and then offered little resistance when it mattered most. Cleveland left the door wide open. The South Siders walked right past it.
MVP
Kyle Teel: 1-for-3, R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
Runners-Up
Braden Montgomery: 3-for-4, R
Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-4, RBI, 2B, K
Miguel Vargas: 1-for-4, RBI
Chase Meidroth: 2-for-4, R, K
Erick Fedde: 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Sean Newcomb: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Cold Cat
Bryan Hudson: 1/3 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER)
Runners-Up
Colson Montgomery: 0-for-4, 3 K, E
Tristan Peters: 0-for-3
Hagen Smith: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 K, L
