The box score will show that the biggest swing in the game was a Harrison Bader fifth-inning grand slam that turned a 5-3 game into a San Francisco rout.
Those who spent their afternoon watching the White Sox get whipped by the elements know the biggest swing happened earlier in the at-bat.
Jordan Leasure, fresh off of being recalled, entered in relief of Erick Fedde to face Bader with the bases loaded and two outs, and when his second pitch resulted in a pop-up in foul territory near the third-base line, it briefly appeared that Leasure had done his job.
But Miguel Vargas, who couldn't track a Matt Chapman pop-up behind him earlier in the inning for a "double," lost sight of Bader's as well. It landed at his feet as a sunglasses-less Vargas covered his head, the Giants were granted a fifth out of the inning, and when Leasure challenged Bader with a 3-1 fastball, Bader accepted it.
That more or less put the stamp on one of the White Sox's uglier efforts of the season, as they looked flummoxed by the conditions throughout the afternoon. Jared Kelenic had the wind push a Luis Arraez ball away from him for a triple in the right center gap that led to San Francisco's first run of three in the fourth inning, and Murakami lost a third pop-up in the sun in the seventh, only for Rafael Devers to bail him out by loitering by the batter's box, assuming it going to be caught. Somehow, Chase Meidroth ended up with the only error, and it was the least egregious misplay of the bunch, as he bounced a throw past Murakami after making a nice diving stab up the middle in the seventh.
Based on the way Erick Fedde pitched, the White Sox needed to play spotless ball to stay in it.
Fedde entered with two outs in the first inning after Bryan Hudson aced the opener assignment, and he struck out Daniel Susac to end the second. At that point, everything was going to Will Venable's plan.
But Fedde started the third by losing an 11-pitch battle to Bryce Eldridge, who fouled off five consecutive pitches. One of them was a 110-mph line drive that ricocheted off a concession table into McCovey Cove, but on the foul side of the pole. When Eldridge ended the at-bat with a 109-mph single to right, Fedde had to consider himself lucky.
Fedde was able to get out of the inning with a double play, but when Arraez led off the fourth with the aforementioned triple, this time the hard contact didn't let up. The Giants posted their first crooked number with a three spot on five hits that inning.
The White Sox offense managed to answer with three of their own off old friend Adrian Houser, with the bottom of the order leading the way. Kelenic doubled, moved to third on Tristan Peters' single, and Drew Romo followed with an RBI single that preserved the runners-on-the-corners situation. Sam Antonacci was denied an RBI single by Willy Adames' incredible diving stop behind second, but it still scored Peters to make it a 3-2 game. Two batters later, Vargas smoked a drive to the left center gap that tied the game at 3 and chased Houser from the game.
Alas, while Fedde opened the fifth with a flyout, Arraez reached with a single, and Casey Schmitt crushed a center-cut cutter out to left to restore San Francisco's lead. Perhaps it would've been better had Devers singled instead of flying out, because were Fedde further away from the final out, perhaps Venable wouldn't have let him face three more hitters. Granted, Vargas lost the Chapman pop-up that should've ended the inning the first time, but subsequent walks loaded the bases for Leasure, and Bader's swing cemented a gruesome final line: 3.1 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR.
Bullet points:
*Fedde in May: 16 IP, 28 H, 18 R, 18 ER, 7 HR, 9 BB, 9 K. It'd look a lot more like the end if there were an obvious candidate to replace him.
*Trevor Richards pitched the final two innings, giving up a solo shot to Adames, but otherwise getting the game over with in a relatively straightforward fashion.
*Kelenic compounded his wind-altered route in the fourth by overthrowing the cutoff man in an attempt to get Devers at third, which allowed Chapman to move up and take the double play out of order.
