Shane Smith is an All-Star, but it might take him a while to feel like one.
Smith was named to the American League All-Star team not long after a 4-2 lead got away from him in the fifth inning. He departed with the game tied at 4, but just when Dan Altavilla appeared to negate the immediate threat by getting an out at home on a contact play, Michael Toglia took him deep for a two-out, two-run homer that provided the decisive runs, and the chance for the White Sox's first sweep of the season went by the boards.
Colson Montgomery's first rookie mistake helped the Rockies right the ship.
The White Sox had a chance to take control of the game in the fifth inning when three of the first four hitters of the inning reached. Andrew Benintendi started it with a walk, moved to second on Lenyn Sosa's single, then scored when Montgomery muscled an inside splitter from Zach Agnos into right center field for an RBI single that gave the Sox a two-run lead.
But when Brooks Baldwin followed by working the count full, Agnos caught Montgomery leaning the wrong way on what would've been an attempt to stay out of the double play and picked him off clean. Agnos then struck out Baldwin on a high fastball, and the White Sox didn't score the rest of the afternoon.
Still, it was a surprise to see the fortunes reverse so quickly, as Smith faced the minimum in the third and fourth innings and opened the fifth facing the bottom of the Colorado order with just 55 pitches to his account. But Yanquiel Fernández and Ryan Ritter opened the inning with singles to right, and Mickey Moniak went even more authoritatively in that direction, pulling a down-and-in changeup into the right field corner for a game-tying triple.
Grounders to Montgomery -- one induced from Jordan Beck from Smith, one from Thairo Estrada on the aforementioned contact play -- appeared to mitigate the damage until Altavilla left an 0-2 sinker middle-middle to Michael Toglia, who took it center-center for a 429-foot homer that gave the Rockies a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Smith's day began as turbulently as it finished. He opened the game by giving up a homer to Moniak on his second pitch of the game to fall behind 1-0. He then failed to get what appeared to be a strike at the bottom of the zone on a 3-2 pitch to Ryan McMahon to start the second, and that walk came around to score after an Austin Nola single moved McMahon to third, and the White Sox couldn't quite turn a 3-6-1 double play that would've ended the inning.
Smith ended up with five runs over 4⅓ innings, his fourth consecutive start with more runs than innings pitched. Over that stretch, his ERA has risen from 2.37 to 4.20, but in a year with no other obvious candidate, he still became the White Sox's mandatory representative for the Midsummer Classic.
Smith's counterpart had an even tougher time. Chase Dollander opened the game with two scoreless innings, but a leadoff walk to Edgar Quero in the third gave the Sox an opening. Mike Tauchman followed with a one-out single, Chase Meidroth doubled homer Quero, and Andrew Benintendi cashed in Tauchman with a sac fly to tie the game at 2.
A leadoff walk to Montgomery in the fourth created more problems, although mostly because Baldwin's pop-up in front of home plate was high enough for Austin Nola to lose track of the arc, but not so high that another infielder could bail him out. The ball deflected off Nola's mitt for the kind of single that makes you think they should just do away with the error.
That said, Dollander was able to get Quero to line into a 6-unassisted double play, but Baldwin stole second, Ryan Noda walked, and Tauchman singled home Baldwin to put the Sox ahead.
Once Agnos picked off Montgomery, the Rockies bullpen found its footing. Juan Mejia retired all six batters he faced to get the game to the eighth, after which Victor Vodnik and Seth Halvorsen both worked around two-out walks for the other two scoreless innings.
On the other side, Mike Vasil picked up after Altavilla and threw three scoreless innings, but the damage had already been done.
Bullet points:
*Montgomery reached base three times and had another fine day in the field, so he finished his first series 5-for-10 with a triple, two walks and two strikeouts. The pickoff kept him humble.
*The White Sox drew seven walks, but Lenyn Sosa should feel ripped off that a 3-0 pitch off the plate was ruled against him. It would've been another walk to load the bases for Montgomery, but instead Dollander found the zone, and Sosa ended up flying out to end the inning.
*By winning one of three, the Rockies are now on pace for 38 wins. Chris Getz said he hopes the Rockies don't break the White Sox's record for losses in a modern MLB season, so one man's missed sweep is another man's small effort to help.
