The White Sox closed out April by dropping their ninth series in 10 chances to fall to 7-23, which is only one game better than last year's White Sox at this point. And while they've largely played a cleaner brand of baseball, they've resembled the losingest team in modern MLB history the last two nights.
Tuesday's game would've required a perfect defensive effort for two first-inning runs to hold up over the final eight, but the White Sox could've wrested control of this one at various points. Instead, they kept getting in their own way, and now the Brewers have won eight consecutive games against the White Sox.
All three of the Brewers' scoring innings featured costly mistakes, or plays not made, including the three-run eighth that decided the game.
"We just didn't make the plays we needed to," said Will Venable. "Really as simple as that, to be honest."
It was tied at 3 through seven when Cam Booser walked William Contreras to lead off the inning, and Sal Frelick followed with a bunt to the right side of the infield. Lenyn Sosa made two mistakes: First, he paused to let Contreras pass him on the basepaths instead of drawing contact, which would've likely triggered an interference call. Then, his arm made a delayed throw just as it received the message from his brain to eat it, and the result was a wide toss that allowed Contreras to advance to third.
"We talked about that on the mound when I made the pitching change, that he's just got to come through the ball and just go get it," Venable said. "You're in the flow of the game that you have this runner and you have to get out of the way, but in that sense, you've just got to come get the ball."
Booser then walked Rhys Hoskins to load the bases, and Jake Bauers delivered the fatal blow with a two-run double that made it a 5-3 game. Caleb Durbin then added a sac fly off Jordan Leasure for an extra cushion the Brewers appreciated having in ninth.
Booser was off his game enough that Sosa's error didn't put them on the road to ruin, but it certainly accelerated the pressure for a pitcher who was already having problems of his own. Booser retired just one of the five batters he faced, throwing just 10 of 22 pitches for strikes.
Moreover, Booser was the only reliever who didn't have it tonight, while sloppy defense was a recurring theme through the evening. Shane Smith allowed one palpable first-inning run when the Brewers beat White Sox defensive positioning for a leadoff double and a two-out single by William Contreras. But then Luis Robert Jr. didn't get his glove entirely under the ball when he made an awkward sliding attempt on Sal Frelick's line drive, and it went for a double that put runners on second and third. Rhys Hopkins followed with a bouncer to third, and Gage Workman's attempt to gather and fire across the diamond failed to complete the first step. He came up to throw before the ball entered his glove, and it trickled behind him as a second Milwaukee run came home.
Smith threw 14 extra pitches while trying to record three third outs in the first, and then he had to throw an additional 10 pitches in the third when Brooks Baldwin lost contact with second base before catching the ball on what looked like an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Pat Murphy challenged the call, the review put the runner back on second, and Smith issued a seven-pitch walk before getting a flyout to keep the Brewers off the board.
"The only thing I can worry about is what I do before I release the ball," Smith said when asked about the misplays behind him. "After that, there's nothing I can do. So just focus on making my own pitches and go from there."
Joey Ortiz then led off the fourth with a single to left that Andrew Benintendi let clank off his glove. Ortiz took second, and was close to moving to third when Robert airmailed his attempt at an outfield assist. The extra 90 feet counted for another unearned run, as Ortiz moved to third on a single and scored on a sac fly.
"He’ll be the first one to tell you his stuff wasn’t very good today," Matt Thaiss said of Smith. "It’s going to happen. We had a talk after the first inning. For him to escape that first inning with two runs, it’s a testament to him and what he was able to do today."
The White Sox missed their share of opportunities on the other side of the ball, too. Their 3-for-10 performance with runners in scoring position is respectable on its face, but they missed chances for a greater payoff.
In the second, the first four Sox hitters reached against Tobias Myers. Miguel Vargas singled, Thaiss walked, Lenyn Sosa shot a single to center to score Vargas, and then Brooks Baldwin walked to load the bases. Workman struck out, but Joshua Palacios checked his swing into Myers' first pitch for a run-scoring HBP that tied the game at 2. Alas, Robert grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to keep it that way.
They ran themselves out of the fifth inning after one run, as Andrew Benintendi was thrown out trying to go from first to third on Andrew Vaughn's RBI single to right. Robert crossed the plate before Benintendi was tagged out, but it still truncated the inning. Likewise, a two-on, nobody-out start to the sixth was cut short when Brooks Baldwin smashed into a 4-6-3 double play, and Robert was caught stealing for the third out of the seventh.
That said, the White Sox kept coming. They answered for one of Milwaukee's three runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Vargas RBI single. Lenyn Sosa kept the inning alive with an infield single to put runners on the corners for Edgar Quero, who came off the bench to hit for Jake Amaya. He worked a 3-1 count, but Abner Uribe kept pounding him inside, and he swung at three potential fourth balls off the corner, eventually grounding out to second.
"Ever since that Minnesota series last week on the road, we kind of been building and building and having better at-bat and better at-bats," Thaiss said. "Eventually it will spill over and we’ll get the big hit we need. We are having really good at-bats and just keep pressing."
The Sox also brought the winning run to the plate in the ninth after Michael A. Taylor reached on a one-out bunt and Benintendi drew a two-out walk, but Vaughn grounded out to end the game.
Bullet points:
*Venable emptied the bench, ending with Thaiss playing first while Bobby Dalbec played short.
*Thaiss contributed the best defensive play of the night when he picked off Caleb Durbin at first base for the second out of the fourth.
*Fraser Ellard made his return from the IL and pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts. He, Leasure and Steven Wilson combined to strike out five over 3⅔ perfect innings around Booser's off night.
*The White Sox outhit the Brewers 10-8, but all of them were singles.
