It was only the last home game of the season for the White Sox, who will close out their schedule with a six-game road trip against the Yankees and Nationals, but it felt very much like a Game 162. The White Sox drew nine walks, including two with the bases loaded, but still lost because they went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile, the Padres ran out of mound visits, and the White Sox ran out of outfielders, resulting in Miguel Vargas appearing in left for an inning before Korey Lee made his professional debut out there.
It was a ramshackle affair that made you forget that one of these teams has something to play for. The White Sox look like they're going to drift past 100 losses for a third straight season, but the Padres still have a wild card spot to secure, with hopes of an NL West title fading, but not impossible.
The Padres ended up scoring all the runs they needed against Sean Burke in the first three innings, using a pair of soft singles around an errant pickoff throw to score two runs in the second, followed by a Fernando Tatis Jr. no-doubter to left center in the third for a 3-0 lead as Michael King coasted on the mound.
At least through five innings. He took the mound for the sixth, but he left it with the bases loaded and nobody out after a pair of singles and a walk. Adrian Morejón entered, and while Will Venable made sure he faced all right-handed hitters, it didn't matter. Curtis Mead pinch-hit for Brooks Baldwin and struck out, Lenyn Sosa popped out, and Michael A. Taylor replaced Will Robertson, only to be overpowered by high-90s sinkers.
That sequence of moves is what pressed Vargas into left field in the seventh, but another flurry of moves in the bottom of the inning would return him to third base for the remainder of the game.
"We really didn’t have any other options," Will Venable said. "We chose to pinch-hit in some big spots where it was time to fire some bullets. We had some guys on the bench who weren’t able to play defense. We had to go to Korey Lee."
Dominic Fletcher opened the seventh with a bloop double, followed by a Chase Meidroth walk. After Kyle Teel struck out, Colson Montgomery walked to load the bases with one out, and that's when Mike Shildt called for Mason Miller, who also couldn't find the strike zone. He fell behind Miguel Vargas 3-0 and ended up walking him on six pitches for the first White Sox run, and then he should've walked Edgar Quero on a 3-1 fastball that was out of the zone. Lance Barrett, whose strike zone was engorged all day, called it strike two, and Quero ended up fanning on a slider for the second out.
Andrew Benintendi came off the bench in Mead's spot for a Kirk Gibson moment, but only if Gibson drew a walk instead of homering. That made it a 3-2 game and brought Sosa to the plate for second bases-loaded situation, but this time he grounded out to Manny Machado to end the inning.
With Benintendi unable to play the outfield due to a sore achilles, Korey Lee strapped on Luis Robert Jr.'s glove to make his left field debut. He was tested two batters in and made a fine sliding catch by the left-field line, but when he had a more routine high fly hit to him in the ninth, he flat-out dropped it, putting runners on first and second with one out. Those runners advanced on an easy double steal, but when Lee had another ball hit his way, he got the out and froze the runners with a strike to home. Robert Suarez ended up closing out the game for the Padres with a spotless ninth, so Lee's throw home was the last highlight of the season for the home fans.
"I've been doing it for a couple months out there, just running around, got to get my feet wet in a real game," Lee said. "Obviously it's part of my game, and I love to throw the ball, wherever it is. If it's in the outfield, infield, catcher, wherever it is."
Bullet points:
*Burke allowed himself to get hit, avoiding walks while throwing 47 of 63 pitches for strikes. His fifth error of the season was the bigger issue.
"I was in the zone early and all the stuff felt sharp," Burke said. "Really just made one bad pitch to Tatis, and it was kind of a middle-middle fastball that he put a pretty good swing on. But other than than, I felt good with everything."
*Mike Vasil threw three scoreless innings after Burke, with Grant Taylor, Brandon Eisert and Jordan Leasure handling the last two innings. The White Sox bullpen outpitched its San Diego counterpart:
- White Sox: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K
- Padres: 4 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 7 K
*Fletcher reached base twice from the ninth spot, then cut down Ramon Laureano from right field when he tried to stretch a single into a double. The replay was determined to be inconclusive.
*The White Sox finished the season 33-48 at home, a 10-game improvement over 2024.
