The White Sox dropped the series against the Washington Nationals by dropping a second consecutive extra-inning game. This one was less excruciating in one regard in comparison to Saturday afternoon's 6-3 defeat, but more painful in another.
Unlike Jordan Leasure, Seranthony Domínguez did not experience a collapse of control in the 10th that required the assistance of a second pitcher to clean up the mess. He merely gave up the game's first run on a pair of productive outs, then gave up a solo shot before he could record the third out. It's not necessarily what White Sox fans want to see out of their big bullpen investment, but it's the sort of thing that happens.
"He had a great outing just the other day, he’s continued to pitch well for us," said Will Venable. "There’s spots of course where these guys aren’t going to be perfect, but Seranthony is one of our really important pieces at the back end of our bullpen."
The bigger problem is that Tanner Murray hurt himself laying out for the catch that produced the second out, which was the go-ahead sac fly. He lay on the turf and exited keeping his left elbow locked to his rib cage, and Venable said postgame that while he was still being evaluated, Murray had hurt his left shoulder and "was in a lot of pain."
After the delay, Domínguez fell behind left-handed José Tena 3-1, and his challenge fastball ended up three rows deep behind the right-center fence for what turned out to be the decisive tally. Tristan Peters was able to answer for one of the runs with a single that scored Manfred Man Derek Hill, but Paxton Schultz struck out Chase Meidroth and Miguel Vargas to lock down the save after the unearned run scored.
Peters' single kept it from being a shutout in the record books, but the White Sox were spiritually blanked. They notched just four singles and three walks over 10 innings, striking out 13 times. Meidroth opened the Sox's attack with a single in the first, Murray reached on an infield single in the second, and then they didn't register another hit until the ninth.
Foster Griffin handcuffed the White Sox for the first seven innings. Murray nearly victimized him for a solo shot in the seventh, but the wind knocked it down into the glove of a leaping Jacob Young on the warning track. Otherwise, he gave up just three other hard-hit balls, baffling the White Sox with his diverse array. Statcast counted six different pitches, and all of them generated either a whiff or a called strike.
Fortunately for the White Sox, Sean Burke was just as effective. He didn't start the game because Bryan Hudson opened, but after Hudson's 1-2-3 first, Burke took the baton and ran with it into the ninth for the longest outing of his career.
Burke has been more overwhelming on the mound, but he'd never been this efficient. He threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of 25 batters, and was 10-for-11 when doing it with the fastball, which allowed him to unfurl the rest of his arsenal by the book. He stuck to four-seamers and curveballs his first time through, then introduced the slider and sinker to vary his sequences afterward. He didn't get the whiffs Griffin generated, and he was ever-so-slightly easier to square up, but if anything, the batted balls worked in his favor, allowing him to pitch a career-long 7⅓ innings on just 76 pitches.
"Throwing balls over the fat part of the plate and trusting they aren’t going to hit it out," Burke said postgame. "This is an aggressive team, so kind of using that to my advantage and know they are going to be swinging early. Trying to pitch to the [outer] thirds and be in the zone a lot. So they are swinging more and with the wind, it’s tougher to hit balls out today."
Had it been a typical start -- or if he had run support -- he might've been able to see it through nine. But because the game was scoreless and Nasim Nuñez reached with a leadoff single to start the ninth and stole second on Burke, Will Venable went to the bullpen after Drew Millas' 3-0 swing produced a fly deep enough for Nuñez to advance to third with one out.
Enter Sean Newcomb, who exited with the game still scoreless. Curtis Mead had a chance for a revenge game against his former team, but his popup in foul territory kept Nuñez at third, while Daylen Lile's popup ended up in Meidroth's glove to send the deadlock to the bottom of the ninth. Burke deserved the win, and he definitely deserved not to lose, and Newcomb's effort secured the second-best outcome.
Notes:
*Regulation was bookended by the White Sox failing to take advantage of a pitcher error that advanced a runner into scoring position. Meidroth started the first with a single and was balked to second, and Everson Pereira singled in the ninth and advanced 90 feet on an errant pickoff. The subsequent at-bats were responsible for most of the 1-for-8 showing with runners in scoring position.
*Murray commanded enough respect to be intentionally walked after a 2-0 count with Pereira on second. Richard Lovelady ended up striking out Hill. The Sox lineup could use Austin Hays and a productive Edgar Quero to fortify their lineup against lefties.
*Drew Romo went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout in his White Sox debut, but he did cut down a baserunner at second, which is something Reese McGuire failed to do in 15 tries.
