It didn't matter that Patrick Sandoval was making his first start in more than two years. What mattered is that he was a left-handed starter wearing a Boston Red Sox road gray uniform.
Sandoval followed the lead of Peyton Tolle and Jake Bennett from the first two games of this series. He couldn't go as long given all the time missed from a lengthy journey back from Tommy John surgery, but he still held the White Sox in check for 4 ⅓ innings, and while Anthony Kay kept it close on Chicago's side, that merely meant that Chad Tracy could use the dangerous part of his bullpen. Tyron Guerrero -- who you may remember as Tayron Guerrero in Charlotte's bullpen back in 2021 -- spearheaded 4 ⅔ scoreless, walkless innings by a Boston bullpen that got the game to Aroldis Chapman for a perfect ninth.
"Just couldn’t solve for some really good left-handed pitching," Will Venable said. "You have to give those guys on the other side credit. They were extremely tough. They were able to neutralize some guys who we’ve seen, especially versus left-handed pitching, play really well. [Miguel Vargas and Randal Grichuk], they’ve done such a great job all year, collectively couldn’t get it going offensively."
The result was a sweep, and an ugly one at that. It wasn't just that the White Sox were outscored 14-2, but they were limited to 15 hits over those three games, and all of them were singles. The White Sox have lost three in a row and fell back into a tie for first place in the AL Central, while Boston has rattled off six consecutive wins.
Kay was the hard-luck loser, as a two-batter sequence in the fourth inning did him in. A seven-pitch battle with Romy Gonzalez resulted in a leadoff walk, and then Caleb Durbin golfed a sweeper over the left-field wall for all the runs the Red Sox scored, and all the runs they needed. It wasn't a terrible pitch in isolation, but it was the third consecutive sweeper Durbin saw.
"It was pretty good overall," Kay said. "Obviously one of the walks led to the two-run homer, which I wish I could have that walk back. But overall, everything felt pretty good. Felt like I commanded the game pretty well."
Otherwise, Kay was tough. Outside of a two-out, nobody-on jam in the third, he didn't find himself in prolonged jams, and he, Jordan Hicks, Grant Taylor and Tyler Davis combined to limited Boston to just two fruitless at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Every margin just happened to be insurmountable to a White Sox offense that went the entire series without leading. They could only get one of those runs back, and the way they did it wasn't particularly impressive.
"Three bad games," Venable said. "At the same time, you have to look internally and make sure adjustments are being made. Adjusting to the fastball and figuring out a way to move some of those forward is a really god place for us to to start."
Luisangel Acuña led off with the fifth with a single off Sandoval, but Drew Romo's attempt to bunt him over resulted in a lineout to first. Acuña was still able to advance on a wild pitch, and then he ended up swiping third on another pitch that got away. Sandoval ended up walking Chase Meidroth, after which Tracy went to his bullpen for Guerrero.
Will Venable countered by pulling Grichuk for Andrew Benintendi, and Guerrero started Benintendi with 99 mph sinkers inside. Benintendi got tied up on the third one, but his checked swing produced a perfect bunt, and Acuña ended up scoring on the infield single, making it a 2-1 game.
Alas, that's where the score stayed, as Vargas flied out and Colson Montgomery popped out. Unthreatening air outs were a theme of the afternoon, and the ones that appeared to be well-placed were flagged down by a relentless Red Sox outfield. Jarren Duran made a sliding catch by the left field line to take a double away from Vargas, and then Ceddanne Rafaela flagged down Braden Montgomery's bid for a soft single against Chapman in the ninth.
"It seems like the vibe in here is kind of down right now but I'm sure seeing [Munetaka Murakami] tomorrow will spark it back up," said Benintendi. "There's a lot of confidence in here. I don't think this series is going to change our way of thinking at all. Three-game stretch that we didn't play that well, so move on."
Bullet points:
*Tolle, Bennett and Sandoval's combined line for the series: 17⅓ IP, 11 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 15 K.
*Teel had a good series throwing, as he cut down Duran at second on overslide to end the top of the ninth. Duran had been 14-for-14 stealing bases this season.
*Venable said that Murakami will be activated and in the lineup on Friday, so there's that. Jacob Gonzalez was receiving hugs and packing his stuff in the postgame Sox clubhouse.
