If there's a silver lining to the death-by-1,000-cuts two-run eighth inning that put tonight's game out of reach, it lessened the significance of an unmade play that put Milwaukee's four-run sixth in motion.
The White Sox led 2-1 at that point, with Bryse Wilson beginning his fourth inning of work as the bulk boy after Tyler Gilbert opened. Joey Ortiz led off by reaching on an infield single, and after Jackson Chourio flied out to center, Ortiz tried stealing second with Isaac Collins at the plate.
For the second time tonight, Edgar Quero made an on-time throw to the first-base side of second, but this time, Jake Amaya dropped the throw as he tried to applied the tag. Ortiz was safe, Collins walked, and then William Contreras shot a single through the right side while both runners were in motion to tie the game at 2.
Brandon Eisert took over, striking out Christian Yelich to come within a batter of ending the inning with the game still tied, and since Contreras had stolen second to open first base, Eisert then walked Rhys Hopkins to set up a lefty-lefty matchup against Sal Frelick.
But then Eisert plunked Frelick, and the Sox spent the rest of the game trailing. Caleb Durbin contributed a two-run single to stretch Milwaukee's lead to 5-2, and the top of the sixth only ended because Frelick tried to catch the Sox sleeping by scoring from second on an infield single, and Andrew Vaughn had him out the plate by 15 feet.
But there's limited value in relitigating the drop, because even if Wilson were able to make it through the sixth inning unscathed, there's still the matter that the White Sox would've had to protect a 2-1 lead for eight innings, and even well-armed teams would struggle to hold that line for that long.
"I think I can just be a little bit more aggressive and trust my stuff with the lefties a little bit more instead of veering away from damage, and just attack those guys in zone," Wilson said, lamenting his three walks to left-handed hitters. "Just keep [my cutter] more in-zone, not try to make it too perfect up and in. Changeup as well, make sure it's down but doesn't have to be perfect."
On this night, this particular White Sox team succumbed to the pressure the Brewers applied, and a less severe version of the same inning unfolded in the eighth. Frelick started the inning with a perfect bunt single, after which Shuster clipped Durbin on the foot. Both runners advanced when Shuster bounced a slider that Edgar Quero tried to backhand, and then Miguel Vargas got eaten up by a broken-bat grounder with tricky spin to load the bases for an unfortunate E-5.
Shuster struck out Ortiz for the first out, but Jackson Chourio's chopper to the left side developed too slowly to go home. Vargas' throw to first probably would've recorded an out with a normal-sized first baseman. Vaughn, however, came off the bag with his stretch, and the bases remained loaded with one out. Another squibber to the right side made it 7-2, as the Brewers posted a crooked number without requiring the ball to leave the infield.
The Brewers would've only needed one of those innings to beat the White Sox tonight, because Freddy Peralta and three Milwaukee relievers shut them down from the second inning on.
After Gilbert gave up a solo shot to Isaac Collins two batters into the game, the White Sox responded in kind against Peralta, and twice over. First, Andrew Benintendi jumped on top of a high fastball and swatted it over the right-field wall, just inside of the foul pole, to tie it. Three pitches later, Luis Robert Jr. gave the Sox a one-run lead by launching another fastball out to left center.
Andrew Vaughn added a two-out single back through the box ... and then the White Sox only had one hit over the rest of the game. They drew a few walks and took a pitch on the elbow, but they only had three at-bats with runners in scoring position, and two of them were with two outs. They couldn't capitalize.
"He started the game attacking us with his fastball but I think his fastball wasn’t the usual velo," Robert said of Peralta via interpreter. "And then he made the adjustment and then he started mixing up his pitches."
Bullet points:
*White Sox pitchers issued a season-high 10 walks, along with two hit batters, so the dam was going to break at some point.
"We’ve got to attack the zone, can't let some of those walks happen," Will Venable said. "They're going to pile up on you there. We’ve just got to be better attacking the zone and find ways to get outs."
*Vargas' single with one out in the seventh inning was the only White Sox hit after the first.
*The White Sox have lost seven consecutive games to the Brewers.
*Robert walked and stole his AL-leading 11th base in the third.
"Every time I get on base, I’m thinking of stealing that base," Robert said via interpreter. "My body feels good. I hope it feels this way all the season. I’ve been running a lot. I think you guys can see that. I’ve been doing my work in the gym. I’ve been very diligent in my preparation and hopefully that’s something that’s going to keep me out of injuries this season."
