In the eighth inning, Grant Taylor did his best Grant Taylor impression.
In the ninth inning, Grant Taylor did his best Seranthony Domínguez impression.
After overwhelming the Guardians for two strikeouts and a groundout over a 16-pitch eighth, Will Venable sent Taylor back out for the ninth. Alas, that inning started with a four-pitch walk to Rhys Hoskins, and two batters later, it ended when Brayan Rocchio pounced on a first-pitch fastball up and away and launched it inside the right-field foul pole despite Taylor's pleas for it to curve foul.
Just like old times, the White Sox ended up on the wrong side of a one-run game at Progressive Field. This one hurts more than most, partially because it means the teams are back even at the top of the AL Central, and also because the White Sox led 5-2 through 5½ innings.
After an ugly start to the evening, the White Sox offense finally found its rhythm against Slade Cecconi in the fifth. Tristan Peters opened the inning with a double to right, and before the inning came to a close, three more doubles followed. Sam Antonacci bounced one off the wall to drive home Peters, Miguel Vargas short-hopped the warning track in right center, and although it didn't score Antonacci because he'd retreated to tag, Kyle Teel made up for it with a double to right that scored two and gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead.
Steven Vogt then made the surprising call to have Cecconi start the sixth, and the White Sox made them pay. Braden Montgomery opened that inning by resuming the doubling, and when Vogt tried to use the righty Cecconi to get one more righty, Chase Meidroth foiled the plan by poking a fastball over the right field wall for a two-run homer and a 5-2 lead.
Despite the White Sox having their best relievers rested, the Guardians whittled away at the margin. The idea was probably two innings of Sean Newcomb, but Newcomb dealt with the bases loaded and one out after walks to Steven Kwan and Travis Bazzana. He was able to get out of the inning with minimal damage on a run-scoring groundout to first base and a strikeout, but he'd thrown 27 pitches, and just 12 of them for strikes.
Venable then went to Brandon Eisert to face a lineup that had still largely planned for Davis Martin's start, but although Eisert retired the first two batters he'd faced, David Fry came off the bench and stung him for a pinch-hit homer to make it 5-4.
The White Sox had an opportunity to add an insurance run in the eighth, but they lost their third baserunner of the evening instead. Meidroth reached on an errant throw and advanced to second on the carom, but he tried tagging up on Steven Kwan's arm on Peters' flyout to center, and he was a dead duck without a slide. Instead of having two more shots to cash in an insurance run, they had the bases clear and nobody out.
Another reason the loss hurt? The White Sox could've easily sent the Guardians home with regrets, as they knocked out Davis Martin after 3⅓ innings. Martin allowed six hits and an unfathomable five walks, as he kept missing glove side with everything, but thanks to Chris Murphy, he limited the damage to two runs.
Murphy entered with the bases loaded and one out after two singles and a walk, but escaped with all inherited runners intact on just five pitches. He got Chase DeLauter to pop out, and Kyle Manzardo's line drive stayed up long enough for Montgomery to run it down in right. Murphy then went three up, three down in the fifth on just 10 pitches, and was well positioned for a deserved relief win until the ninth inning happened.
Bullet points:
*Sam Antonacci had a strong night at the plate, going 2-for-4 with the RBI double. It wasn't so strong on the basepaths, as he was caught stealing with a premature jump on Cecconi, and then misread Vargas' double to cost the Sox 90 feet.
*A golden opportunity in the second inning went by the boards. The Sox had runners on second and third with nobody out after Andrew Benintendi singled and advanced to third when Cooper Ingle dropped Colson Montgomery's fly to left. But Braden Montgomery grounded out on a middle-middle cutter, and then Meidroth got aced into an 0-2 count before hitting a routine grounder to third. Benintendi was cut down at home on the contact play, and the game remained scoreless.
*The Sox made a couple of nice catches by the rail to steal outs on popups, with Teel navigating the on-deck circle on the left side of the infield, and Gonzalez making the catch over Brooke Fletcher by the camera well on the right side.
*The Guardians went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10. The White Sox were 4-for-15 and stranded seven.
