As the Saberseminar wound down at IIT across the Dan Ryan from Guaranteed Rate Field, a muffled rumble competed with the closing remarks.
I thought they might've been fireworks, which were unexpected since the last I checked, the White Sox were trailing 5-0 in the eighth. Did I miss a comeback for the ages?
Nope. The White Sox lost 7-3, so either the Sox celebrated avoiding a shutout, or it was an unrelated noise.
Here's the bullet-point recap for a game I missed entirely due to other South Side baseball matters. Feel free to fill in with details as you see fit:
*Dylan Cease pitched seven innings for the first time all season, even if it was in vain. The guy who walked six batters over 5⅓ innings his last time out issued only one unintentional walk today, throwing 67 of 97 pitches for strikes.
*Cease just committed the unpardonable sin of giving up individual runs in the second and fifth innings. Two singles put runners on the corners to open the second, and a Mark Canha sac fly cashed in one of them. In the fifth, Cease issued his only walk to Willy Adames to start the inning, and he came home after a single and a double.
*In both cases, Cease found a way to strand the trailing runners. The fifth inning was tougher, but he got Brice Turang and Tyrone Taylor to pop out, and after intentionally walking Christian Yelich, struck out William Contreras to end the threat.
*The White Sox just didn't threaten anything themselves until it was too late. Andrew Vaughn had a three-hit day, but the four hitters around him went 0-for-14 with three walks.
*Vaughn started the scoring inning with a single, and just when it looked like he'd be stranded there, Carlos Pérez kept the game open with an RBI double, Zach Remillard reached on an infield single, and Elvis Andrus shot a single to center to drive in both. But that still left four runs to go with only one out remaining, and Andrew Benintendi lined out to end the game.
*Aaron Bummer had a game to forget, issuing two walks before Carlos Santana one-handed a homer just over the wall in right-center for a three-run shot that gave Milwaukee a 5-0 lead.
*Brent Honeywell Jr. threw a scoreless eighth, but Declan Cronin loaded the bases on two plunkings that sandwiched a walk, and a Yelich single scored the Brewers' final two runs.
*The White Sox helped the Brewers expand their division lead with the sweep. The Cubs lost, so Milwaukee now leads the NL Central by 3½ games.
