What if they built the whole team out of one-run losses?
Colson Montgomery being a confirmed Super Tall Guy™️ helped him rob a hit when he snagged a high liner in the third inning, so he at the least held serve in his first major league start at the hot corner. Not being able to cleanly handle David Fry's 104 mph smash wasn't so much a mistake -- it was ruled a hit, after all -- as it was a missed opportunity, possibly even to tag out lead runner Angel Martínez as he scampered to third.
It's just that when you go 8-22 in one-run games, the paying fans watch a lot of missed opportunities. And they've surely watched Steven Kwan foil them several times by now, as he landed a combo of a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th, then a sliding catch in the bottom of the 10th to seal a Guardians victory.
"Honestly, today just kind of felt like an embodiment of the first half where we were out there competing, making plays, making pitches, doing everything well in all phases and making some mistakes that cost us," Will Venable said. "Too much to overcome."
If asked to figure out which franchise mainstay in this matchup put his team ahead with a weak sacrifice fly to center field in the eighth, and which re-tied the game at 5 with a two-out RBI double down the line later in the same inning, I would have gotten it right because the home and away inning orientation gives it away.
But it was still surprising to see Luis Robert Jr. rise to the occasion to answer José Ramírez, after Andrew Benintendi's sixth-inning solo shot prompted the Guardians to intentionally walk him to get to the former All-Star centerfielder. Rolling a first-pitch sweeper down the third base line wasn't his most thunderous swing, but it set the stage for climax.
"That was a big hit," Benintendi said. "Look at where we were last year compared to this year. It's a tough game, and you've got to take your wins where you can. I don't know exactly our record, but I'm assuming it's better than it was last year. Baby steps."
Quality starts have become decidedly more difficult for starting pitchers to acquire in recent years, so beyond the other clear indicators of obvious struggle, there wasn't any specific rhyme nor reason to Aaron Civale being 0-for-10 for them on the season. At least until he came right up to the precipice of recording six scoreless innings against his former club on Sunday, staked to a 3-0 lead, and promptly self-destructed as if a higher power manual overrode his controls.
After No. 9 hitter Brayan Rocchio launched a letter-high sinker off the wall in right-center for a one-out double, Civale issued back-to-back walks to set up the always unenviable scenario of José Ramírez up with the bases loaded, representing the go-ahead run. When, miraculously, Ramírez chopped a letter-high but middle-middle cutter to Miguel Vargas, the Sox first baseman started his momentum toward second to kickstart a potential inning-ending double play to end the sixth scoreless.
But when Chase Meidroth looked to execute the turn, Civale was still rooted to the pitcher's mound and the Sox had to settle for a run-scoring fielder's choice. Worse yet, the notion that there's some sort of system of karma for defensive fundamentals was immediately reinforced by Civale grooving a first-pitch cutter to Kyle Manzardo for a go-ahead three-run blast.
"Obviously didn't finish how anyone would want it to," Civale said. "Just gotta take accountability for not getting over there and covering first. So, had a chance to get out of it with that, had a chance to get out of it after that, just one pitch away. So not ideal."
Look, it at least seemed like the most they could hope to get for Andrew Vaughn at the time, but it's not trending so well.
A little more than 10 months after Guardians lefty Joey Cantillo fell seven outs short of a perfect game in this ballpark, the White Sox offense made his march toward a QS more traditionally torturous. Cantillo throws in the low-90s with the sort of fastball life that shouldn't preclude a competent righty from tucking their hands in and pulling that sucker when it run across the inner half.
Austin Slater opened the scoring in the fourth by doing just that for a solo shot befitting a warm summer day in a hitting-friendly ballpark. An inning later, Vargas led off the fifth by flipping a mistake changeup down the left field line, scoring on a Michael A. Taylor sacrifice fly, before Chase Meidroth pulled off the inside fastball trick for a double of his own. When Slater switched places with Meidroth by firing another low-and-in heater back up the middle, the Sox had built the sort of 3-0 lead that could only be put to waste by some sort of notable breakdown.
As it turns out, that's exactly what happened.
Bullet points:
*Slater picked up an error when he and Robert collided on a would-be inning-ending popup in the second. It led to embarrassment, not damage, as Civale induced another routine fly out right after it. That led to hilarity, as Robert very demonstratively waved off Slater despite him being 30 feet way.
*Civale in a White Sox uniform: 6 GS, 30.2 IP, 33 H, 19 ER, 15 BB, 17 K, 5 HR.
