It takes talent the lose the way the White Sox lose.
Now, some may argue that notion reflects an absence of talent, but I'd disagree. Others may argue that it's a talent nobody should ever want, and there's no argument in return.
But the White Sox went from leading by four in the eighth inning to losing by four in the ninth inning in a game where they were the road team. There's only one way that's possible, and Jordan Leasure made it happen by serving up a walk-off grand slam to Cal Raleigh. That's talent.
Perhaps the White Sox wanted to make their 50th loss of the season (when no other team has 44) stand out, and Michael Kopech answered the call.
He took over after Erick Fedde gave up a leadoff homer to Dominic Canzone to start the eighth inning, and promptly loaded the bases on a single, walk and single. He struck out Julio Rodríguez, then rung up Raleigh on a fastball that home plate umpire Chris Guccione decided clipped the inside corner (that side of the plate was in question all night from both sides). Scott Servais ended up running out to take Raleigh's ejection for him, which turned out to be a vital move when all was said in done.
But in the immediate aftermath, Kopech got ahead 0-2 on Mitch Haniger with a perfect cutter away and a perfect running fastball in, then grooved a fastball down teh middle that Haniger doinked into right for a two-run single and a 4-3 lead, leaving runners on the corners for Luke Raley.
Raley beat Kopech another way: by dropping down an effective bunt to the left side on a 1-1 pitch with the infield back. That tied the game, and after Kopech nearly brained Tyler Locklear with a bill-clipping fastball to load the bases, Pedro Grifol called for Leasure, who got Canzone to ground out on one pitch.
Leasure had his own troubles. He issued a pari of one-out walks, and while it looked like Julio Rodríguez's single to left would win it, J.P. Crawford didn't get the cleanest break, and got the stop sign heading into third.
No matter: Leasure fell behind Raleigh 2-0, and with nowhere to put him, challenged him with the middlest-middlest of all fastballs, which Raleigh deposited into the right field seats to cap off another incredible night for the Holmes Maneuver.
Before the eighth, you could say that it was a good night for the two most-discussed White Sox trade assets, and I suppose it still was.
Fedde outpitched Logan Gilbert over the first seven innings. He gave up his fair share of 300-something-foot flyouts, but he had no problems returning to the strike zone when counts started getting away from him, and the Mariners never made enough trouble for him.
The seventh inning was the only time he allowed two baserunners in an inning, when a full-count borderline call went Haniger's way for a walk and and Raley jumped on a get-me-over cutter for a first-pitch single. Up came Locklear, and Fedde rediscovered the edges. He missed just inside with a sinker, but then found the outside corner with one to even the count, and then used his cutter away. Locklear rolled it over into a well-turned 6-4-3 double play to preserve the 4-0 margin.
The White Sox built that lead in an exciting way. It'd been a pitchers' duel through five, but Korey Lee led off the sixth with a double to left. Just when it looked like he'd stay there after a strikeout and a flyout, Luis Robert Jr. had other ideas. Gilbert got ahead 1-2 on three fastballs inside, then bounced a splitter. He then tried to return with inside heat, but even though he elevated it to the top corner of the zone, Robert whipped the barrel through the zone and launched it just inside the left-field foul pole for a 2-0 lead.
They tacked on in consecutive innings afterward. Andrew Vaughn started the seventh with a double and came around to score on Lenyn Sosa's single, and Corey Julks -- not defensively replaced this time, with Pedro Grifol opting to sub Duke Ellis for Zach DeLoach instead -- followed Robert's lead by beating Matt Bowman's full-count fastball to the spot up and in. It wasn't nearly as majestic, but it cleared the left-field wall by the smallest of margins, and it counted just the same.
They continued applying pressure, loading the bases with walks -- the only three the White Sox drew all evening -- before Sosa came to the plate with two outs, but his screaming comebacker hit Kirby Snead's glove, and he was able to find it in time for the 1-3 putout. You could say the White Sox really could've used the insurance runs, but it turns out they needed at least five of them.
Bullet points:
*Ellis replaced DeLoach in the bottom of the seventh, then was pinch-hit for with Colás in the top of the ninth, because Grifol is way too antsy to play him for any reason.
*Julks and Robert bumped into each other on a fly ball that was more left than center, but neither appeared to call for it.
*The White Sox were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The two homers should've offset it, but they're now somehow 0-5 when hitting multiple home runs in an away game this season.
*Another incredible stat from Chris Kamka, who no longer has to watch this on a daily basis:
*While Kopech had his typical command problems, he threw 16 of 28 pitches for strikes, while Leasure was just 10-for-23.
