Sean Burke needed just seven pitches to complete the first inning, and every pitch was a strike.
Then Josh Naylor led off the second with a 106.3-mph single off Munetaka Murakami and eventually came around to score during a 31-pitch frame, and that created a disturbing trend that lasted the remainder of the game:
Innings Naylor didn't bat: 0-for-12, one HBP.
Innings he did: 12-for-26, 12 R, 4 HR, 3 BB, 2 HBP.
This is a little bit reductive because Naylor had two plate appearances where he made outs, and the Mariners still managed to score. For instance, the only Seattle run of the fifth came when Julio Rodríguez started the inning by taking a decent Burke cutter over the left-center wall with Naylor on deck. Also, Luke Raley delivered the two biggest blows of the game: a third-inning grand slam off Burke that gave the Mariners a 5-1 lead, and then a three-run shot off Tyler Davis in the seventh that broke the game back open by putting Seattle ahead 9-5.
Both blasts with two outs, and that was characteristic of the evening, as 11 of their 12 runs came with the Sox one pitch away from suffering far less damage. Making it even more aggravating, one of those runs was on an HBP to the ninth hitter, and the Raley slam came after the inning started with two outs and nobody on. The M's were able to extend plate appearances until seeing one fateful meatball. Or three of them, with the Rodríguez leadoff homer the exception.
"Being in the zone in general and then command within the zone was just bad," said Burke. "Obviously that one big inning there is frustrating to have that all happen with two outs. It's a good lineup and if you don't make pitches consistently and you don't execute in big spots, that's kind of the results you're going to get."
Such Naylor-driven performances often end with the White Sox wedgied on a foul pole, but they managed to maintain their dignity thanks to a resilient effort on the offensive side.
Given that Emerson Hancock came into this one with a 2.59 ERA and struck out 14 Royals over seven innings of one-run ball his last time out, you might expect that early 5-1 deficit to be the problem, but the Sox erased that one in an inning. They loaded the bases with one out on a Tristan Peters leadoff walk, a Sam Antonacci RBI single two batters later, then two more walks. Colson Montgomery came to the plate and had no intent of taking. Hancock started him with a 95.6 mph fastball down the pipe, and Montgomery sliced it out of the reach of Rodríguez to clear the bases and tie the game at 5.
"Just frustrated to waste a night like that," Burke said. "We haven't played as well as we've played in our last three games. I think it starts with the pitching, especially with how many runs they put up tonight, I've got to be able to give them a better start than that."
Hancock was able to rebound and make it through six, but he still joins José Soriano in the category of Talented Pitchers Given a Surprisingly Difficult Time. And when the Mariners brought in the front end of their bullpen to close out a blowout, the White Sox experience commensurate success. Andrew Benintendi, Jarred Kelenic and Peters all delivered two-out hits against Alex Hoppe to make it a 12-7 game in the eighth, and Randal Grichuk greeted Josh Simpson with a line drive off the mesh of the left field foul pole to bring the Sox within a slam.
Bullet points:
*Burke's final line: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, 2 HBP.
*Munetaka Murakami gave the Sox their only lead with an opposite-field solo shot off Hancock in the first, setting a very specific brand of MLB history.
"In the first meeting, there were a lot of critical questions about me hitting the fastball and getting the velocity up," Murakami said via interpreter, when asked what he thinks of how American media has treated him. "Now the results are coming to me and I think the questions are coming differently at the moment."
*Antonacci got picked off first base in the seventh inning with the Sox trailing by four and Murakami at the plate. It was a great move by Eduard Bazardo, sure, but the antonacci-tootblan tag is still getting way too much traction early.
*Drew Romo had an eventful day behind the plate. He didn't block a wipeout curve in the dirt, resulting in a wild pitch that set up the first Mariners run. He then was charged with an error when his attempt to cut down Randy Arozarena hit him and trickled into center field, because it was a massive jump with nobody covering and Arozarena didn't have to slide. On the plus side, he showed that steals of second with runners on the corners aren't automatic by cutting down J.P. Crawford. Arozarena didn't break for home.
*Trevor Richards made his White Sox debut and wasted no time feeling like a White Sox by giving up a three-run homer to Naylor with two outs in the eighth. That one truly sealed the deal.
*The teams combined to score 20 runs in two hours and 39 minutes, which is what the pitch clock intended.
*Chase Meidroth was subbed out late with a sore right foot, but the White Sox have conveyed that he will be in the lineup on Saturday.
