The White Sox won just their second road series of the season, and the difference was in the defense.
After Josh Rojas and Kyle Teel teamed up to thwart a contact play at home plate to keep it a one-run game in the bottom of the seventh, the White Sox scored three runs in the top of the eighth thanks to a two-out error that allowed the tying run to score, and kept the door open for Miguel Vargas' go-ahead double.
Grant Taylor, assisted by a terrific 3-6-3 double play started by Vargas that erased a soft leadoff single, faced the minimum in the ninth for his first career save.
This game had the makings of another one-run loss once the Sox fell behind 2-1 on Bo Bichette's second RBI single of the game in the seventh, especially when Brendon Little appeared to mitigate his leadoff walk to Austin Slater with a pair of strikeouts. But Michael A. Taylor stayed on a 2-2 curve that stayed over the middle of the plate and lined it to left for a single that kept the inning alive.
That's when John Schneider went to his bullpen for his closer, Latham's Jeff Hoffman, and he did the opposite of slamming the door. He got ahead of Chase Meidroth 1-2, then threw three easy takes to load the bases for Andrew Benintendi.
Benintendi had dreams of another grand slam in his head, but Hoffman started him with a splitter for a swinging strike, then survived a hittable fastball that was fouled back for another 1-2 count. Hoffman then threw another splitter up, but off the plate, and Benintendi could only weakly pull it into the ground. The bouncer was well within Hoffman's range, and it appeared to lead him directly to an easy flip to first, but either he overran it, or he had the late idea of shoveling the ball to first with his glove and didn't have the rest of his body prepared for that action, but the ball slipped underneath him, and Hoffman went tumbling as Benintendi reached base safely, with the game tied at 2 and the bases still loaded.
Vargas then came to the plate and fell behind 0-2 after fouling off a second consecutive hanging slider. After taking a fastball away, he fouled off a thigh-high fastball, then another elevated slider, so after missing three mistakes, he couldn't count on seeing another one.
He didn't, but that didn't stop him from putting the White Sox ahead. He stayed alive by fouling back a higher-than-high fastball, and when Hoffman finally threw a slider in a good location, Vargas was able to dig it out and float it to left field for a two-run single that gave the Sox a 4-2 lead.
Adrian Houser, fresh off paternity leave after the birth of his second child, deserved the win for the way he pitched, but the Sox did the next best thing by getting him off the hook. He recorded another quality start by getting through six with the game tied at 1, but he ran the risk of being the losing pitcher of record when Alan Roden led off the seventh with a triple. Bichette, who tied the game in the fifth with a two-out single after Vargas and Teel teamed up for the first unsuccessful contact play, rifled a hanging curve through the middle for Toronto's first lead of the game.
But the White Sox kept it there, with Jordan Leasure finishing the inning with the help of another runner thrown out at home -- Teel made a great pick on an imperfect Rojas throw -- and Brandon Eisert getting three weak groundouts in the perfect eighth.
The late rally means that the White Sox also survived another typically tough outing against Chris Bassitt, who retired the Sox in order the first time through, then limited them to a run on three hits and a walk over the next three innings. The Sox did get to him in the fourth when Meidroth singled, moved to second on Vargas' single two batters later, advanced to third on Teel's walk, then scored when Luis Robert Jr.'s grounder to third developed too slowly for a double play. Robert was then thrown out at second base to end the inning, as the Sox continue to be on the losing end of first-and-third running opportunities.
Bullet points:
*Vargas committed an error earlier in the game when he whiffed on an eminently catchable pickoff throw from Houser, but it didn't cause any damage. He made up for it later.
*Taylor topped out at 102.2 mph in his inning of work, the fastest pitch from a White Sox arm since Gregory Santos hit 102.3 (and 103.1) back on April 22, 2023.
*The White Sox's other road series win was in Cincinnati, May 13-15.
