After a lackluster performance in St. Petersburg, Florida, over the weekend, the Chicago White Sox needed a spark as they arrived in Toronto. They were playing their first game north of the border since 2019 against a Toronto Blue Jays team who had lost seven of their last ten games.
Instead of an offensive breakout, fans were treated to a burly, big-boy pitcher's duel between Lance Lynn and Alek Manoah. Deciding factor came down to Craig Kimbrel's adventure in the eighth inning, and thanks to some #WILDPITCHOFFENSE, the Blue Jays win game one of the series, 2-1.
White Sox had a chance to strike first with a two-out rally in the third inning. Manoah walked Cesar Hernandez and Luis Robert to set the stage for Jose Abreu. After getting underneath a 3-1 slider up in the strike zone, Manoah busted Abreu inside with a sinker resulting in a groundout.
In the fourth inning, Eloy Jimenez singled on a floating 0-2 slider from Manoah. After extending his current hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the second inning, Moncada swung through a sinker for a strikeout. Brian Goodwin got entangled in a good battle drawing a seven-pitch walk once again to put two runners on base for the White Sox. That threat ended when Andrew Vaughn flew out to center field, and Danny Mendick made solid contact, but his liner was hit at the right fielder.
Finally, in the sixth inning was when a run was scored, snapping the White Sox 15 consecutive scoreless innings streak. Three straight singles from Moncada, Goodwin, and Vaughn gave the White Sox a 1-0 lead.
Lance Lynn was in a groove, unlike his last start when he was tossed from the game throwing his belt at an umpire but had to throw 88 pitches in four innings. Lynn was only around 60 pitches entering the sixth inning when Reese McGuire doubled to left field. No outs, Bo Bichette hit a grounder at Cesar Hernandez covering second base. McGuire seemed to hesitate in his decision-making and made a late jump towards third base. Hernandez made a perfect throw to Moncada, who applied the tag on McGuire, getting the lead runner out. A terrific defensive play to help Lynn breathe easier.
Lynn had to face Vlad Guerrero Jr. a third time with two outs and a runner on second base. Lynn struck out Guerrero Jr. in their first duel and induced a fly-out in the fourth inning. In this at-bat, Lynn fell behind 3-0. Opting still to challenge one of the league's best hitters, Lynn tried to get a four-seamer through the lower part of the zone. Unfortunately for Lynn, Guerrero Jr. didn't miss lining a single to center field, scoring Bichette, and tying the game.
A submariner, Adam Cimber, replaced Manoah. The rookie hurler's final line was 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 3 BB 5 K. White Sox could get eight base runners on against Manoah but only pushed across home one run. After Cimber struck out Hernandez, Robert reached on a catcher's interference. That error didn't hurt the Blue Jays as Cimber got Abreu to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
Lourdes Gurriel hit his 22nd double of the season in the bottom half of the seventh. A perfectly placed flyball landed between Andrew Vaughn and Luis Robert in the left-field gap. Robert was shaded towards the gap in right field and looked like he had to run at least 50 yards to get close. Meanwhile, Vaughn appeared to look at Robert, hoping he would be able to run it down. Chalk it up to a learning opportunity for the White Sox rookie.
The defensive miscue didn't hurt because Lynn struck out Randal Grichuk to keep the game tied. At 86 pitches, Lynn still had plenty of gas left in the tank.
After the White Sox went scoreless in the eighth inning, manager Tony La Russa had Craig Kimbrel replace Lynn. A final line of 7 IP 4 H 1 ER 0 BB 4 K is undoubtedly impressive, but Lynn deciding not to walk Guerrero Jr. on 3-0 loomed largely.
McGuire hit a roller into the shift that Danny Mendick couldn't get, and it was just slow enough that Hernandez couldn't make the throw-in time. A leadoff single for McGuire, who was lifted for Breyvic Valera to pinch run. Kimbrel struck out Bichette on a sweeping curve, but Seby Zavala couldn't get in front of the pitch. Bichette was automatically out with a runner on first base, but Valera reached second base.
Old friend Marcus Semien was next, and Kimbrel fell behind 3-0, barely missing plunking the Blue Jays second baseman. Like Guerrero in the sixth inning, Semien swung on 3-0 but only mustered a ground out to Hernandez. Valera moved up ninety feet to third base with Guerrero Jr. batting.
This time the White Sox didn't even blink and put Guerrero Jr. on with an intentional walk. Kimbrel got ahead of Teoscar Hernandez 0-2 but held on to his fastball too long and sailed past Zavala. Valera beat the toss to home plate, and Toronto led 2-1. During the chaos, Guerrero Jr. ran to third base. Kimbrel was able to recover and get Hernandez to whiff on a slider ending the inning.
Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano got Vaughn to ground out on his very first pitch. La Russa had Jake Lamb pinch hit for Danny Mendick, and the veteran bat couldn't catch up to 99 mph up in the zone. With two outs, it was up to Zack Collins, who replaced Zavala. After fouling off a few tough pitches with Romano hitting 101 mph, Collins watched a borderline fastball catch the lower part of the zone for a strikeout called looking.
Game Notes:
- Yoan Moncada went 2-for-4
- Craig Kimbrel now has a 5.79 ERA in 10 games for the White Sox
- AL Central lead is now at nine games over Cleveland
