Well, well, well. You’re welcome, by the way. I was lucky enough to be at today’s game in-person, and I got to witness a really funny game, start to finish.
Let’s start with the first inning. The White Sox had Noah Schultz going for them (bad this year). For once, it looked as if the Guardians were poised to take advantage of a lopsided pitching matchup. Kwan singled to start the game, but then DeLauter struck out. Jose got to a 1-2 count, but managed to shake off two balls, pushing the count full.
He then ripped a ball up the middle for a single, moving Kwan to third. Adell got to 2-2, but then got hit by a Schultz fastball. The White Sox pitching coach came out to talk to Schultz while Vogt was looking at Adell. Bases loaded, one out. Angel Martinez up. First pitch whiffed on. Second pitch… smoked to left, driving in two Guardians runs early.
Then, in a truly bizarre series of events, White Sox manager Will Venable went out to chat with his starter. Unfortunately for him, he apparently hadn’t realized that his pitching coach had been out to the mound already that inning. Oops! MLB rules dictate that you can only visit the mound twice in an inning, with the second mound visit necessitating a pitching change. Oops! Big whoop at home plate with Vogt getting after the HP ump. To make this even funnier, the White Sox didn’t have anyone warming when this happened. So, the game was delayed for a good 5 minutes while they got their bulk reliever up and moving. By the way, the White Sox used 7 relievers last night in a 13-inning classic against the Red Sox. Oops!
Anyway, the inning ended without a fuss, as White Sox reliever David Sandlin put down the next to Guardians rather quickly.
All quiet until the bottom of the 2nd, when Messick gave up a solo homer to Sox rookie Braden Montgomery. 2-1 Guardians.
Quiet, again, until the 5th. Through this point, Messick was more-or-less making quick work of the White Sox lineup. 54 pitches through 4. Only giving up 2 hits. So, the Guardians had the top of the order up in the 5th. Still against David Sandlin, by the way. Kwan led off the inning with a groundout, but each of the next three Guardians reached base (single, walk, HBP). Martinez up, again. He swung at the first pitch he saw and deposited it roughly 422’ into the right field seats. 6-1 Guardians.
Hoskins singled right after, and then Rocchio lined out. But, Hedges came up clutch, driving in Hoskins with an RBI-single. 7-1 Guardians.
Perhaps the funniest event of the night came in the 6th. Which, for what it’s worth, is saying a lot, given what had already transpired.
Kwan led off the 6th inning, still against David Sandlin. Got to 2-2, but then fouled off two decent pitches. Then, on the 7th (a curveball right down broadway), he hit that pitch right off the foul pole in RF, breaking a 324-AB homerless streak.
8-1 Guardians.
Messick gave up a solo homer in the bottom of that inning to Murakami, but did not surrender any further runs for the rest of his outing.
His final line: 7 IP, 4H, 2ER, 1BB, 8K. Both runs came off solo homers. His ERA stayed at 2.57.
Franco Aleman came on for the 8th, and got into some trouble. Single, K, K, walk. At this point, he was already nearly at 20 pitches. Antonacci (pinch-hitting for lefty specialist Randal Grichuk), hit a ball fairly well to left (which had me fooled), but was caught near the track.
Aleman came out again for the 9th. K, lineout. But, then, 3 straight singles. Up to 39 pitches at this point, and the White Sox had momentum, the bases loaded, and their leadoff hitter up to bat. Luckily, Aleman struck him out on 5 pitches.
Aleman’s final line: 2IP, 4H, 0ER, 1BB, 4K — 44 pitches.
To his credit, and despite the mess he made for himself, he didn’t give up any runs, and gave the bullpen a day off.
It’ll be Gavin Williams vs. Anthony Kay tomorrow night. Hopefully the Guardians can take advantage of another lopsided pitching matchup.
