With a runner on third and one out in the first inning of a scoreless game, Will Venable played the infield in with hopes of keeping Bryce Turang at third.
It didn't work. Christian Yelich instead shoved an ordinary grounder through the right side for an easy RBI single en route to a 3-0 first-inning Brewers lead and an easier 6-1 Brewers victory.
"When we’re scrapping and clawing for every run, we’ve got to be aggressive there," Venable said. "You’re in situations where there’s one out and a runner on third, they hit a hole and you score the run if you’re back, that run’s scoring anyways. For us, we’ve got to do everything we can to cut down runs. Being aggressive with infield in is something that we’ve done appropriately, I feel like."
The way the inning and game unfolded leaves you two ways to look at one of Venable's most defined strategies. Either:
1) The White Sox aren't going to execute well enough to make more demanding defensive alignments pay off.
Or:
2) The way the White Sox hemorrhage bases means they can't bypass any chance to prevent a run from scoring.
The White Sox outhomered Milwaukee 1-0 thanks to Munetaka Murakami's fourth-inning solo shot, but the Brewers outdid the Sox in every other fashion. The Sox were outhit, they were out-defended, and they were especially outrun. The Brewers stole seven bases in seven attempts, and that doesn't account for all the times huge jumps were spoiled by foul balls.
"It's easier for them to do when they have a lead and they kind of have momentum," said catcher Reese McGuire. "They can kind of run at will and they definitely did that tonight. Couple of times it was the right pitch that they ran on, so whether it was the count or situation, it went in their favor tonight. Overall we've just got to control what we can."
Putting it another way, there's another universe in which Sean Burke's innings could've been scoreless. Turang, the who scored the first Brewers run on Yelich's single, only stood on third because Andrew Benintendi butchered his first outfield chance of the season on the warning track. As it played out, drawing the infield in led to the first of three ground-ball singles that gave the Brewers all the runs they needed. It also didn't help that Everson Pereira overthrew the cutoff man that allowed the trailing runner to take second, which turned an RBI base hit into a two-run single.
Burke's own defense yielded a run in the second inning, as he made an ill-advised throw on Yelich's nubber along the third-base line. It short-hopped Murakami at first, and as it bounced away, Turang ended up going from third to home. The run was technically unearned, but it balanced out the earned run from Benintendi's effort at the start.
Considering Burke needed 60 pitches to get through two innings, was a mild triumph that he lasted four. He retired seven of the last eight batters he faced, and the broader arsenal described to James came into play. The slider was particularly effective, as it got got eight called strikes on top of three whiffs on just 18 pitches. Perhaps his biggest problem was a fastball that lacked oomph, as his average fastball sat around 93 as the start dragged on, and Milwaukee hitters fouled off 17 heaters to extend plate appearances.
"They've got more guys that are kind of, put the ball in play and go run, create chaos on the bases," Burke said. "I made some solid pitches. They were just able to find some holes with some stuff. Overall, there wasn't a ton of hard contact, just kind of just one of those games where stuff didn't really go your way a little bit."
They also made life difficult for every other White Sox pitcher, as four White Sox relievers who started an inning were unable to go 1-2-3. Chris Murphy threw a scoreless fifth, and Seranthony Domínguez posted a zero in his White Sox debut in the eighth, but in between, Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson gave up two runs on four hits, two walks, a balk and four stolen bases, three on Hudson's watch.
Meanwhile, the White Sox offense was once again limited to runs via solo homers, and this time they only produced one of them. Murakami pounced on Chad Patrick's piped first-pitch fastball and deposited it over the right-center wall to make it a 4-1 game, but the Sox weren't able to capitalize on other opportunities.
"I was the first one up in that inning and I really wanted to shift the momentum going in as we were a bit behind," Murakami said via interpreter. "We are very much pumped up each game. Keep grinding every single day and we’ll see that result coming in. Hopefully we’ll contribute to get that win to show who we are and how much we can actually play."
They technically had chances, in the sense that they had six other hits and four walks. The problem was that until Everson Pereira's walk in the ninth, Murakami's fourth-inning solo shot was the only time the first batter of an inning reached, so they had to string together multiple successful plate appearances over the course of two outs, and were unable to do so.
They were also unsuccessful in their attempt to make something happen. The seventh inning represented their last chance to get in the game, as Colson Montgomery singled with two outs, and Austin Hays followed with a line drive to left. Montgomery easily took third, and when Brandon Lockridge failed to glove it cleanly and briefly ran past it, Montgomery kept chugging for home.
Alas, Lockridge recovered quickly enough to make an on-target throw to Joey Ortiz, whose relay home beat Montgomery by multiple steps. That's how it's been the first two games: When the White Sox make a mistake, the White Sox pay for it, and when the Brewers make a mistake, the White Sox pay for it.
"You understand what [Third base coach Justin Jirschele] saw there with him overrunning the ball there, but overly-aggressive," Venable said. "We talked about that one. In that spot, Mune coming up, with two outs you want to be aggressive, but that was too aggressive right there."
Bullet points:
*While Murakami couldn't come up with Burke's in-vain short-hop throw, he made a nifty diving stop on Jake Bauers' would-be double inside the first-base line in the sixth.
*Chase Meidroth had the lone multi-hit game at the top of the order.
*Burke avoided further misfortune in the third when a two-out infield single by David Hamilton was overturned because Montgomery's cross-diamond throw beat him by the skinniest of margins.
*The Sox had a rough day challenging otherwise. Tristan Peters was rung up on a strike that had room to spare in the second, and Lenyn Sosa objected to a 1-1 slider that grabbed a sliver of the corner in the eighth.
*Then again, the Brewers also went 0-for-2 with their challenges. That's the only area where they failed to get the job done.
