Marlins 9, White Sox 2: Defensive mistakes open the hatches

In his first start since returning to the Chicago White Sox, Erick Fedde was in rhythm early. On 36 pitches, Fedde twirled three hitless innings, and his only baserunner allowed was on a walk. For a Sox team still desperate for its starting pitchers to eat innings to help a taxed bullpen, Fedde’s early performance was promising.

Then the White Sox defense took center stage again, in poor fashion. A mixture of miscommunication, errant throws, dropped catches, and poor positioning cost runs, ans Miami coasted to a 9-2 victory, setting up a series rubber match for Wednesday afternoon.

The Marlins picked up their first hit of the night when Xavier Edwards reached on an infield single to start things in the fourth inning. Agustín Ramírez hit a deep-ish fly ball toward the right-center field gap, and that’s when trouble began. Luisangel Acuña, playing in center, didn’t call for it. Tristan Peters was tracking the ball from right field and cut off Acuña, but whiffed on the catch. The miscommunication, or lack of a confident call, granted Ramírez a double, and Miami had runners in scoring position with no outs.

Liam Hicks cashed in, hitting a screamer down the right field line for a two-run double. Fedde struck out Otto Lopez, but then allowed back-to-back flare singles to Owen Caissie and Heriberto Hernández . Acuña fielded both singles and, each time, made a throw to home plate. But each throw had excessive tailing action, resulting in throwing errors.

A four-run fourth was a gut punch to the White Sox. Especially after they successfully implemented some small-ball offense in the previous inning. Four singles from Edgar Quero, Acuña, Munetaka Murakami, and Andrew Benintendi generated an early 2-0 lead after three innings.

But that was it for the White Sox offense. No base hits after the third inning, and the lineup struck out 10 or more times again, extending that streak to five games to start the season.

Manager Will Venable’s list of teachable moments is approaching short story length after five games, but while a lot of attention should be paid to Acuña’s defense in center, Quero also had his defensive gaffes. An error was charged to Quero when White Sox reliever Bryan Hudson fielded a bunt attempt and made a good throw to home. In an effort to catch and swipe the tag, Quero simply dropped the ball.

Then in the eighth, Miami’s Owen Caissie hit a fly ball to left field. Austin Hays parked himself under it and made a strong throw to home ahead of Hicks, who had tagged up from third base. While Quero positioned himself to field the throw from Hays, his tag was too high and late, allowing Hicks to slide underneath, scoring another run.  

To cap off Miami’s offense, Griffin Conine hit a two-run homer off Sox reliever Jedixson Páez who allowed three earned runs. In three appearances this season, Paez has allowed six earned runs total.

Game Notes

• Edgar Quero’s single in the third inning was his first hit of the season. He finished the night batting 1-for-2 with a walk.
• Tristan Peters had his first career stolen base in the seventh inning
• Erick Fedde’s final line: 5 IP | 6 H | 4 R | 3 ER | 1 BB | 4 K on 80 pitches.

Record: 1-4 | Box Score | StatCast