In Game 1 of the doubleheader, the White Sox lost the game they should've won. In Game 2, they lost the game they should've lost.
Granted, they should've also won this one after Andrew Benintendi tied the game with a grand slam in the seventh inning, and they had the winning run on third with one out in the ninth. But Mike Tauchman once again got hurt trying to make it the last 90 feet on an ill-fated contact play to send the game to extras, where Dan Altavilla allowed the Manfred Man to score on a Nolan Arenado single, and then gave up a Lars Nootbaar solo shot for the all-important two-run margin.
"We keep putting ourselves in positions to win," Benintendi said. "I think we had one or two tonight. Just keep working on it, I guess."
The White Sox have now dropped eight in a row after losing two today, and that appeared to be a given through the first six innings. Mike Vasil, who sometimes showed some of his best stuff of the season while striking out a career-high six, also gave up back-to-back homers in the second that more than answered Ryan Noda's solo shot for a 4-1 St. Louis lead. Vasil rebounded and almost completed four innings, but Willson Contreras got enough of a curve that dangled over the plate, and pushed it past a diving Josh Rojas for a two-run double and a 6-1 Cardinals lead.
"The stuff felt great," Vasil said. "Sometimes that's baseball. I think last week I didn't really feel I was in control. Tonight, I felt a lot more in control, but the result didn't go my way. So I think in terms of how I attack hitters and approach outings, I would rather take the way I did it tonight over the long run than last week."
Despite being limited to just the Noda homer, two singles and a walk over the first six innings, the Sox finally summoned offense in the seventh. It started as innocuously as possible, with Lenyn Sosa reaching on a 50-foot tapper to the left side of the infield, and the right side of new reliever John King. King struck out Noda, but when Austin Slater shot a single to center to put runners on the corners, Oli Marmol came out to swap out King for Kyle Leahy once Luis Robert Jr. was announced as a pinch-hitter for Josh Rojas.
It almost worked, as Leahy struck out Robert. He was then one out away from getting out of the inning with the five-run lead intact.
Three batters later, the game was tied. Tauchman singled home Sosa, Chase Meidroth drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, and then when Leahy hung a first-pitch slider over the heart of the plate, Benintendi didn't wait for another option. He turned and burned a 105.7-mph drive over the right field wall for a grand slam that knotted the game at 6.
And even when the White Sox nearly squandered their progress in the top of the eighth, fortune was still on their side. The Cardinals chased Owen White after a one-out walk and an ensuing double put runners on second and third. In came Jordan Leasure, who recorded two outs with just one strikeout. Before Jose Barrero went down swinging, he whiffed on a bunt attempt, and Edgar Quero and Miguel Vargas teamed up to catch Nolan Gorman way too far off third base. Vargas applied the tag without a fight, and Leasure completed the K on three pitches to escape the jam.
"Between the bullpen holding those guys right there and those quality at-bats leading up to the Benny grand slam, which obviously was a big knock, just a great job on a tough day for our guys to continue to fight," said Will Venable. "Every time we hit a tough spot, they flush it and take what they can from it to make them better for next time and just continue to fight. That's what we did today all day and that's what we'll continue to do tomorrow."
But the White Sox botched their own chances. In both the eighth and ninth innings, they had the go-ahead run on third with one out and couldn't score him. In the former inning, Sosa doubled and took third on a wild pitch, but after an intentional walk to Noda to make a double play possible, Slater lined out to short, and Robert popped out to end the inning.
After Leasure threw a 1-2-3 ninth complete his most effective outing of the season, Tauchman opened the ninth with a walk, advanced to second on a passed ball, then took third on Chase Meidroth's grounder behind Tauchman. Will Venable then put on the contact play for Vinny Capra, but between Capra hitting a routine grounder to third and Tauchman's wheels once again failing to cooperate, he was cut down at home with little effort. The White Sox said he was day-to-day with groin discomfort, which everybody in the clubhouse is probably feeling right now.
Bullet points:
*Tauchman's injury forced Kyle Teel to make his outfield debut in left field, with Austin Slater sliding over to right. All of the contact went to the right side of the field, so he wasn't tested.
"It’s like riding a bike," Teel said. "Played outfield in college. Played for the collegiate national team in left and right field. Shag out there all the time, so I was just hoping they would hit me the ball."
Meanwhile, Brooks Baldwin has already been pulled mid-game at Charlotte.
*White delivered 2⅓ scoreless innings after Tyler Gilbert relieved Vasil to get the game through five. That's about as good as you can hope for from a 27th man. He's already been returned to Charlotte.
*Slater was credited with an outfield assist in the 10th in a cut-off throw that resulted in Arenado getting cut down at second base. That left the bases empty for Nootbaar's blast.
*Noda's homer was his first hit as a White Sox.
*At least it wasn't a one-run loss?
