Blue Jays 6, White Sox 2: Losing Nick Madrigal, then the game

White Sox lose

If you believe in mojo, juju or anything else along those lines, then this game took a turn for the worse when Nick Madrigal hit the ground behind first base, then had to be helped off the field with what looked like a pretty severe leg injury, which was an ugly way to end the bottom of the seventh.

If you believe that the White Sox determined their own fate, then you’d pin it on Yasmani Grandal’s dropped strike three, which allowed Riley Adams to reach. Aaron Bummer should’ve had two outs and nobody on, but instead he had to deal with a runner on first with one out. When Marcus Semien followed with a chopper off the plate for an infield single, one had a pretty good idea how it’d go from there.

The 2-1 lead disappeared two batters later, as Bummer allowed a bases-loading single and then a bases-loaded walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. In came Codi Heuer, who got the ground ball Bummer wanted, but the White Sox defense couldn’t do anything with it. Danny Mendick flipped the ball to Tim Anderson, who came across the bag in a really loose fashion and got rid of the ball after two steps toward first. The throw was late, and it also sailed over Josรฉ Abreu’s head for an error that scored two more runs.

More bad defense followed in the ninth during a rare Matt Foster sighting. Pitching for the first time in a dozen days, Foster didn’t locate well, but the defense once again compounded issues. Adam Eaton couldn’t get rid of the ball when he had a play at the plate, and by the time he did, it was wild up the third-base line. Josรฉ Abreu didn’t get elevated on another high attempted double-play turn, and his failure to catch the ball resulted in a sixth Toronto run.

All of the insurance was overkill, because the White Sox couldn’t capitalize on opportunities tonight. In a mirror image of Tuesday’s game, the White Sox were the team that preceded their late-inning unraveling by not capitalizing with runners in scoring position. They went 2-for-13, including a couple of bad turns by the top of the order with a runner on third.

The White Sox took a 2-1 lead off Alek Manoah in the fifth when Leury Garcรญa led off with a walk. Madrigal followed by taking a ball well inside for strike one, but rallied to split the left-center gap with Garcรญa in motion. The double gave the Sox a lead, and Madrigal then took third on Anderson’s flyout to right center. He couldn’t advance further, as Jake Lamb struck out and Yoรกn Moncada popped out.

Their attempt to climb back in the game in the bottom of the eighth deteriorated in a similar fashion. Anderson led off with a four-pitch walk, then stole second and third during Jordan Romano’s nine-pitch battle with Lamb. Alas, nobody could get him home. Lamb flied out to shallow left, Moncada struck out, and Josรฉ Abreu’s bid for a single through the middle deflected off Romano for a 1-4-3 putout.

The failures exacerbated some bad luck in the fourth inning, when it appeared that Yasmani Grandal slid in safely on Andrew Vaughn’s two-out single. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s throw beat him home, but Grandal’s foot appeared to touch the plate before Reese McGuire could apply the tag. The call in real time was out, and while the replay didn’t seem to back it up, the call stood for some reason.

Still, it looked like two runs would be enough with Lance Lynn on the mound. Lynn shook off a solo shot by Randal Grichuk in the top of the second and played the big bully the rest of the night. He allowed just three other hits while walking nobody and striking out nine, which gave him plenty of opportunities to mix up his triumphant walks back to the dugout.

He probably could’ve started the eighth, as he threw just 95 pitches. Then again, his one flaw from the past two seasons is the home run ball, with 19 allowed over 149 innings. In a one-run game, there’s some logic in going to Bummer. Unfortunately, little about the way the inning played out made much sense.

Bullet points:

*Madrigal wasn’t the only player writhing on the ground. Abreu hit the deck after home plate umpire Erich Bacchus flung a bat into Abreu’s knee.

https://twitter.com/SoxMachine/status/1402786142878056456

*Abreu stayed in the game, and while he couldn’t get elevated on the double-play turns in the late innings, he did bring the eighth to an end with an excellent diving stab.

*Lynn committed the first of the White Sox’s four errors with an errant pickoff throw in the first inning, but erased it by striking out the side.

*Lynn entered 7-1 with a 1.23 ERA, and he leaves it 7-1 with a 1.23 ERA.

Record: 37-24 | Box score | Statcast

Author

  • Jim Margalus

    Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Letโ€™s talk curling.

    View all posts
Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
Become a patron at Patreon!
25 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
jhomeslice

Brutal. Madrigal not going to be easily replaced. Their offense continues to look subpar way too much of the time anyway, and their relief pitching aside from Hendricks continues to be unreliable. Can only hope that Nick won’t be out more than a couple weeks.

tommytwonines

So how many blown saves is that for the White Sox over the first 61 games? I believe they had two in 60 games last year.

As Cirensica

Bummer has 5 blown saves this year followed by 3 Marshall, and 2 by Hendriks.

Blown saves:
2021: 11
2020: 9
2019: 16
2018: 19

Willardmarshall

A team built for seven-inning doubleheaders…

As Cirensica

I didn’t watch the game, I listened to it on the radio by bits. I can’t watch Bluejay’s games because I am subscribed to mlb.tv and I made the mistake to call Canada my home, so the Jay’s games are country wide blackout.

Seems to be one of those painful games to watch, and I don’t care about the loss as long as Madrigal’s injury is not serious. Even if all he misses is a week, I’d consider that good news. The White Sox definitely cannot afford to keep losing core players.

dwjm3

Same here…As long as Madrigal isnโ€™t down for the year I donโ€™t care

burning-phoneix

, so the Jayโ€™s games are country wide blackout.

Toronto extending their blight across an entire nation. Outstanding.

As Cirensica

The Rogers family is very powerful around here.

mikeyb

2020 Jose Abreu is starting to look more and more like a small sample size fluke. I had hoped that last year was him learning that he doesnโ€™t have to swing at every terrible pitch with runners on base to try to drive in runs. Either that was just luck, or with no Eloy and no Robert, heโ€™s back to thinking he needs to be a hero.

Either way, itโ€™s so frustrating to watch. Iโ€™ve gone from being able to assume heโ€™s going to always come through in big situations to assuming heโ€™s going to swing at garbage in big situations in less than a season. Hopefully Mercedes or Grandal or Vaughn or somebody steps up soon and he feels like he doesnโ€™t have to be a hero all the time.

As Cirensica

Abreu is fine. He is having a bad June, but it is just June 10th. Abreu hit in May with a 187 wRC+ which is elite.

In overall, Abreu’s numbers look fine. Abreu’s 7th in fWAR among 1B. Yankees drools for that kinda production from a first baseman.

The White Sox have some problems, and 1B production is hardly one of them.

mrridgman

I think both your point of views have merit. Abreu is a good hitter, who has ABs where he looks like he has no plan, and just wails away – often after letting a first pitch cookie go by. These ABs seem to go in streaks.

mikeyb

He’s striking out at the highest rate of his career. He’s pounding balls into the ground at by FAR the highest rate of his career. I’m concerned, because we desperately need him to be great the next few months.

andyfaust

At what point do Sox approach Lynn for an extension? I hope it’s already begun. He could be a major contributor the next couple seasons. He just turned 34, so I’d be comfortable having him around a few more years. He’s pretty underpaid in 2021, so perhaps use a modest raise for the remainder of 2021 as leverage to buy a couple more years.

Also, I said so during the offseason, and I still feel the same way, but after making Hendriks the only significant expenditure during the offseason I can still see the Sox making a major trade acquisition soon. The problem is who? I’ve concluded that pretty much all of the interesting OF names have some type of major strike against them. Corner OF seems a pretty obvious need, but suddenly the bullpen seems like the highest priority.

Yesterday I was searching for potential lefty hitting (or even right handed hitters that do well against RHP) corner outfielders that play on clubs that might be selling and I convinced myself that if Cincinnati were inclined to sell, that perhaps they would approve a trade for Winker if they could dump Votto’s bad contract into the deal. Probably not, especially if NL adds the DH soon, but I spent a lot of time looking up numbers. Then I learned what a terrible outfielder Winker is and went back to the drawing board. He is not an outfielder and I suspect he will be Cincy’s DH for years to come once that role arrives in the NL.

As Cirensica

I believe extending Lynn will be less complicated and cheaper than extending Giolito, and probably as impactful. Hahn should do it. Length might be 3 or 4 years. Likely pricier than what Keuchel got, but he won’t cost a fortune due his age.

andyfaust

I agree regarding Lynn extension vs Giolito. And i know i said, “a couple years” but I also agree with you that it probably takes at least three additional years. And finally, I agree that it would cost more than Keuchel’s three-year deal, but maybe not tons more.

Who do you want them to pursue in OF? or pen?

As far as an outfielder, then ideally for me, it’s someone that is under control at least through 2022 rather than just a rental. Gallo makes some sense, but the K’s are impossible to overlook. I was initially interested because of his left handed power and steady glove, but I saw his platoon splits and he has hit LHP significantly better than RHP in 2021. And this is not really an aberration as he has always had a reverse split, albeit to a lesser degree. So I’m a “no” on Gallo.

NorthSideSouthSider

It has been talked about on twitter by Josh and others, but Adam Frazier makes a ton of sense. Controlled through 2022, left handed, and he can play 2nd base and the corner outfield.

As Cirensica

Frazier will be a nice add, but you’d probably need to include Crochet and maybe some other names in the deal.

Last edited 3 years ago by As Cirensica
andyfaust

Yeah, he’s not a bad idea especially since his cost would be way more feasible in comparison to Castellanos or Ketel Marte, but to play devil’s advocate, his current OPS is over 100 pts higher than his career number, so I’d expect some regression. Also, for a club near the bottom of the league in HR’s, I was hoping to add a guy that hit the ball out with more regularity.

As Cirensica

Right now, with the team on 1st place, Hahn should wait until he knows more about 1) Madrigal’s health, 2) Robert and Eloy timeline to return before making a hasty trade. Team’s 37 wins has bought Hahn some time.

With the return of Engel, if I knew Eloy and Robert will be back for sure at some point in August, I wouldn’t do any trades for an OF. If Madrigal is down a significant amount of time, it is quiet possible Hahn will stay put and use Mendick.

The starting pitching rotation can carry this team while the team awaits for key bats to return. This formula worked for the Indians. Right now, if I am a betting man, the only move I foresee Hahn doing at the trade deadline will be to obtain a high leverage reliever on the cheap.

Last edited 3 years ago by As Cirensica
andyfaust

again, i like your take on this regarding the waiting, but I’m a little more pessimistic about Eloy and/or Robert returning and being 100% in 2021.

As Cirensica

They are young. Young people heal fast. Robert didn’t need a surgery. I think they will be both back this year, and even if they won’t be 100%, they will be upgrades.

mrridgman

Yeah, even if they’re healthy by sometime in August, then they have to start extended rehab – almost spring training for Eloy.

texag10

Lots of thoughts after last night:

  • Lynn was dealing and has been an absolute workhorse the past few years. Pulling him out of the game at 95 pitches, especially when its the bottom of the order seems just bad.
  • Foster gets no blame for this outing in my mind because I don’t expect anyone to be 100% sharp when they don’t pitch for 2 weeks.
  • Abreu is currently batting 70 points lower than his career with RISP this year. Add in the fact that Mercedes is also hitting in the .240s with RISP and we are missing production from our 4-5 hitters. That being said, Abreu has been very unlucky this series with hard hit balls hit right at guys so I’m not overly concerned going forward.
  • It feels like our plan for Vlad Jr. is to just not pitch to him and I feel like its causing more issues. It felt like Lynn was the first pitcher that really went after him from the first pitch and he was pretty successful at keeping him contained. I’ve never been a fan of playing scared though.
  • So with Madrigal probably missing a few games, I’m assuming we are going to see Engel in CF and Garcia at 2B. I wonder who we are going to call up in the meantime? We could call up Fry and beef up the pen a bit but that would put a lot more stress on Leury’s bat since he’s the prime backup to Engel in CF. Do we bring up Gonzalez so we can have more OF depth and leave Leury/Mendick to cover the infield only?
670WMAQtheElder

Seems as if the whole team lost focus in the 8th and 9th after watching Madrigal get helped off the field after the 7th. Same thing happened in the game Robert got hurt.