Derek Hill entered Wednesday with a career .783 OPS against left-handed pitching, built over a surprisingly meaty sample of over 240 plate appearances, which probably constitutes a decent portion of his utility on the White Sox roster.
Still you're forgiven for feeling some surprise that the 30-year-old glove-first outfielder was the pinch-hitter for a big seventh inning chance to erase a 4-3 deficit with two runners on, especially since he tried to bunt on the first pitch before rolling into an inning-ending double play. But in his defense, Hill pinch-hit for Andrew Benintendi, who himself had whiffed on a belt-high full count heater to strand a pair of runners rather than tack onto a 3-2 lead two innings prior.
"That's a matchup we're playing there where we like D-Hill against the lefties and something that we've been doing where we start a righty against the lefties, D-Hill's getting those starts," Venable said. "There were a lot of fastballs in the zone that we didn't move forward. I thought we did a better job of that and we had some innings where we were able to string some things together because we put the ball in play. That's going to be big for this group. We know we're going to make good swing decisions. There's going to be some slug in there but we've got to make contact, specifically on the fastball in the zone."
Even Benintendi's hero moment, an improbable one-out triple perfectly placed in the right field corner in the second that was followed by four-straight singles from the bottom of a thinned out order to put the White Sox up 2-0, fit the template of all the offense's rallies ending in deflating fashion. Chase Meidroth was jammed with a two-strike sinker from Kyle Bradish--a vital figure in White Sox franchise history--for an inning-ending double play, and both times the Sox edged ahead, the lead was gone within minutes.
For the second-straight day, hits allowed (two, in this case) proved to be an inadequate means of judging the smoothness of a White Sox starter's outing, as Sean Burke needed 92 pitches to get through five innings, even while retiring his last nine batters in order. His four-seamer had enough life to keep his first inning demons at bay, but he yielded a fledgling two-run Sox lead three hitters into the third.
Gunnar Henderson is far too actually good to qualify for White Sox Killer status, but he certainly doesn't take it easy when he sees black pinstripes. His six-pitch leadoff walk set him to score on Taylor Ward scooping a full count down-and-in slider down the left field line for a double. In a foreshadowing moment, a wild pitch that got past Reese McGuire pushed Ward to third, from where he could score easily when Acuña had to range too far for an Adley Rutschman grounder to throw home.
"The offense puts up two runs and it’s frustrating to give that right back the next inning," Burke said. "The middle innings there, it wasn’t as sharp fastball command. That was part of it too. They are just pesky, a lot of foul balls, which is kind of part of the game."
Burke still technically left with the lead thanks to a play Sam Antonacci specifically fantasized about in spring training. Standing on second when Colson Montgomery drew a walk to load the bases in the fifth, Meidroth scored when Bradish whiffed on the toss back from Rutschman and compounded his frustration-spurred mistake by sending the rushed throw home flying to the backstop.
"Just following the ball until the play is dead," Meidroth said. "Always talk about that, just finishing the play. Just felt like I had a good chance to score. The ball kind of jumped away. Thought I could take the extra 90."
McGuire, Acuña and Sox pitching's general inability to throw strikes collaborated in grislier fashion in a decisive top of the sixth. After a one-out Pete Alonso double, Lucas Sims got Tyler O'Neill to roll over a sweeper that was deep enough in the six hole that it went down as a hit when Acuña couldn't glove it cleanly, and was costly enough to turn the course of the inning. A walk to Ryan Mountcastle loaded the bases, and while Bryan Hudson came in and quickly got ahead of Dylan Beavers, McGuire flubbed his 2-2 outside fastball for a run-scoring passed ball, which also set up a lazy fly ball to right to plate the tally that put Baltimore in the driver's seat for good.
Henderson and Ward traded places with doubles off Tyler Schweitzer in the ninth, a testament to drafting and developing and/or trading for good hitters, for an insurance run to seal the sweep.
Bullet points:
*Harris slipped and had his sunglasses fly off the first time a ball was hit to him in right, but went 1-for-3 with an RBI single, a walk, a run scored and two stolen bases in his first start since being called up.
*Schweitzer's big league debut was neither revelatory nor ignoble: 1.1 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, K, 0 HR, 15 of 26 pitches for strikes. His first career strikeout came against Alonso. He and his wife found out this week that they're expecting their first child.
"Life comes at you fast, that’s for sure," Schweitzer said. "Keep telling myself, I’ve really got to make it now because a baby’s expensive. So, that will help."
A shortlist contender for the most truthful quote I've ever heard in an interview.
*Ward reached base eight times this series. While the Sox might be moving away from their own obsession with swing-first corner bats, that doesn't mean they've solved them as a species.
*Rico García got the ninth for the Orioles after Ryan Helsley handled the task each of the previous two days. He threw seven-straight balls to open the inning and walked a pair to bring up Montgomery as a potential winning run, only for the Sox shortstop to ground out to second on the first pitch he saw.
