Twice this series, Drew Pomeranz came out of the bullpen for the specific purpose of creating an unfavorable matchup for Munetaka Murakami.
Twice this series, it didn't work.
After giving a go-ahead three-run shot in the opener on Monday, Pomeranz entered this one at the start of the 10th, intentionally walking Miguel Vargas to face Murakami. The Angels might have wanted to set up the double play, or maybe they wanted to increase the chances of a strikeout followed by a double play, but either plan was dashed when Pomeranz walked Murakami on four pitches to load the bases.
Austin Hays couldn't get the job done, hitting a weak grounder to short that resulted in an easy force at home, but while that set up another lefty-lefty matchup with Colson Montgomery, handedness once again failed to matter. Pomeranz started Montgomery with a dangling curve, and Montgomery lined an easy single to center to seal the sweep in walk-off fashion.
Given that Angels started Yusei Kikuchi departed the game with shoulder tightness while warming up before the third inning, leaving a minimum of six innings for an embattled Anaheim bullpen to cover, it probably shouldn't have taken extras. But the White Sox won the opener with a seven-run seventh on Monday, then bested José Soriano with a Drew Romo-led effort on Tuesday, so none of these games unfolded in the expected manner.
The Sox looked poised for a sweep when they greeted emergency reliever Mitch Ferris with a double, RBI single and walk, but Austin Hays grounded into a double play to clear the slate, and the Sox couldn't generate momentum until they were down to their last bullet.
Fortunately, Sam Antonacci fired said bullet into the right field corner for a triple, scoring Tristan Peters, who took a Ryan Zeferjahn slider to the ankle with one out, then stole second on strike three to Jarred Kelenic. Chase Meidroth had the opportunity to end the game right then and there, but he grounded out to third to send the game to the 10th.
Seranthony Domínguez, whose last extra-innings appearance saw him allow the Manfred Man to score along with a two-out solo shot, posted a clean and pristine zero. He struck out Josh Lowe, got Vaughn Grisson to ground out to third, and then broke Nolan Schanuel's bat for a routine 4-3 to put both him and the White Sox in position to win.
The late rally meant that Erick Fedde's strong start wasn't wasted. He pitched seven strong innings without the assistance of an opener, but until Antonacci's heroics, it looked like his two hangers were one too many.
In the fourth, he left a cutter over the heart of the plate for Mike Trout, who got enough of it to send it out to left for his 10th homer of the season, which tied the game at 1, but the second one was more agonizing. He was one pitch away from closing out the seventh when he hung a sweeper to the previously homerless Vaughn Grissom, who got more of it to put the Angels ahead 2-1.
Had the score held, the White Sox would've been kicking themselves for their baserunning in the fifth. Munetaka Murakami led off with a single, then easily took third when Austin Hays shot a single to right. The Sox should've had runners on first and third with nobody out, but Hays ran himself in front of Jorge Soler's cutoff throw to first baseman Vaughn Grissom, and then couldn't get back to first before Grissom's tag, resulting in costly first out.
Up came Colson Montgomery, who hit a bouncer to a drawn-in Adam Frazier at second base. Frazier fired home to Travis d'Arnaud, whose shinguard knocked Murakami's foot away from home plate as he shifted to apply the tag. The White Sox challenged for interference, but the call stood, probably because d'Arnaud didn't start to block the plate until he was in possession of the ball and moved to apply the tag.
Edgar Quero then grounded out to end the inning, and the Sox might've looked at that sequence as the reason they couldn't come away with an attainable sweep. As it stands, it's mostly a footnote.
No, wait, these are the footnotes.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox won the strike zone, drawing seven walks and the Peters HBP. Meanwhile, the four pitchers Venable used avoided issuing any sort of free pass.
*Tyler Davis delivered a scoreless ninth to preserve Domínguez's usage. He entered with a runner on first after Bryan Hudson gave up a leadoff single in his second inning of work, then induced a tricky 6-4-3 double play on Jorge Soler that required above-average efforts from everybody involved.
*Kelenic entered as a pinch hitter for Luisangel Acuña Jr. and walked on four pitches in his inaugural White Sox PA.
*Hays had one of the less effective 2-for-5 days you'll see. He ran into the out to nullify one of the singles, grounded into the aforementioned double play, ahd the Angels might've been able to turn a second double play on him in the 10th had Zach Neto not taken his time throwing home.
