Pirates 4, White Sox 2: Double plays deflate dreams of comeback

Over the course of the seventh and eighth innings, the White Sox posted a total of eight baserunners.

They scored a total of two runs, as both rallies ended in double plays hit to third base.

With the bases loaded in the seventh, Jared Triolo gloved a hot shot by Miguel Vargas and turned a 5-4-3 double play to preserve a 4-1 Pittsburgh lead. With the bases loaded in the eighth, Triolo got the glove up in time to snag Chase Meidroth's rocket, then beat Randal Grichuk to the bag for a 5-unassisted double play that kept the Pirates ahead by two.

Mason Montgomery had no such issues in the ninth, getting Edgar Quero to ground out before ringing up Sam Antonacci and Vargas on borderline pitches to secure a series win for Pittsburgh, with a chance for a sweep on Thursday. (Antonacci challenged unsuccessfully; Vargas wanted to challenge, but none were available.)

The White Sox offense spent the first six innings subdued by a Pittsburgh bullpen game, limited to just three hits and a walk, but they finally happened across the proverbial "guy who doesn't have it" in the seventh when Camilo Doval entered. Braden Montgomery drew a walk to start the inning, and Meidroth reached on an infield single that Triolo smothered, but fumbled the exchange that would've been fruitless regardless. Kyle Teel then walked to load the bases, and Antonacci followed with a smash to first.

Spencer Horwitz made a diving stop and figured he'd be able to trade a run for an out with a flip to Doval at first base. The problem was that Doval didn't cover. Instead, he hovered between the mound and home plate and Horwitz searched for any target who might help him. Instead, Antonacci reached on a bases-loaded "single," and Don Kelly pulled Doval for Yohan Ramírez.

Vargas came to the plate, having pinch-hit for Andrew Benintendi a couple innings before. He fouled off an 0-1 sweeper that had homer -- or at least sac fly -- written all over it, but when Ramírez threw one just off the plate two pitches later, Vargas couldn't lift it. Instead, he grounded it right to Triolo, who went around the horn to end the inning.

In an Antagonacci moment, he stuck out his elbow into Brandon Lowe as Lowe made the turn, as th play developed too quickly for him to try his other method of breaking up a double play. Lowe took offense, but Antonacci's feet took a direct slide to the base, and Lowe didn't clear the airspace to avoid such an effort. Two ways to look at it:

No. 1: In a pennant race, isn't that what you'd want your runner going into second to do every time?

No. 2: Based on what was said about Antonacci's junior college days, Antonacci would've shaken Lowe's hand if Lowe tried it on him with the roles reversed.

Still, the Sox made it a 4-1 game, and they had an even juicier opportunity in the eighth. First, Munetaka Murakami leveled a hanging Luke Weaver changeup into the Pittsburgh bullpen for a solo shot that made it 4-2. Grichuk then started a rally in earnest with a sharp single to left center. Colson Montgomery, but other Montgomery Braden redirected a high fastball down the left-field line for a double that put runners on second and third.

Up came Tristan Peters, who swung over a first-pitch changeup, but saw a second-pitch fastball graze his jersey. It boosted Peters' OBP, but it felt potentially detrimental to the Sox's chances for a crooked number, just because the left-handed Peters was less likely to hit into a double play.

That's what Meidroth did -- just not in the way you might've expected. He got a hanging Weaver changeup on the inner half and went in the direction the pitch begged to be taken, but he just didn't get his line drive high enough to clear Triolo. Grichuk took a step toward home, and even if he froze, he might not have beaten Triolo to the bag. That's how the second sustained rally also failed to generated a crooked number.

The late offensive surge cast a spotlight on a couple of Will Venable decisions that happened right before. In the sixth inning, he pinch-hit Vargas for Benintendi against lefty Gregory Soto with one out and nobody on. Although the Sox only trailed 1-0 at the time, it didn't feel like a great leverage play, because a base hit would've needed a lot of help to turn into a run. Vargas struck out, and ended up going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts over the final four innings.

Venable then tried going with Sean Newcomb for a second inning for the top of the seventh. There's nothing wrong with that idea on its face, but Newcomb had given up two singles the inning before, only to have Oneil Cruz bail him out by not running particularly hard on a slow-developing 4-6-3 double play.

Considering Venable was proactive in lifting Davis Martin after allowing a solo shot to Esmerlyn Valdez for the game's first run in his final inning of work, but was a little incongruous to see Newcomb stay five batters into the seventh, especially after the first three reached on a walk, bunt single and solid single by Rafael Flores Jr. that made it a 2-0 game with runners on the corners and still nobody out.

Still, Newcomb pitched, and while he got pinch hitter Ronny Simon to hit a grounder to Meidroth at short that resulted in a fielder's choice at second base while the runner stayed at third, he wasn't so fortunate facing Konnor Griffin. Simon stole second, and both runners came home on Griffin's single to center field that extended Pittsburgh's lead to 4-0.

Chris Murphy took over from there and retired both batters he faced, and Trevor Richards handled the eighth and ninth innings without issue. Perhaps it would've worked out differently were they pitching in higher leverage, but a second inning of Newcomb was fair to question well before the Buccos provided a conclusive answer.

Perhaps Martin could've worked an inning longer, considering he threw just 68 pitches over five, but Venable took his clues from the contact. Valdez muscled an inner-half sinker over the right field wall for an unconvincing solo shot, but at 99.4 mph, it wasn't the most ridiculous homer one has ever seen at Rate Field. The Pirates followed it with three hard-hit balls, including a 107.8 mph grounder from Griffin that bounced right to Meidroth for an easy inning-ending force at second.

That closed out a Martin line that you can file under "he gets outs": 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, and just four whiffs on 29 swings. The two walks were issued to the first two batters, but Martin induced a 5-3 double play to get out of the first, and Antonacci flagged down Valdez's liner up the middle on a hit and run for an easy 4-3 double play in the second.

Bullet points:

*Brandon Eisert ended up having the revenge game, striking out five of seven batters he faced to carry the game from two outs in the first inning through the end of the fourth.

*The White Sox had runners on the corners with one out in the second, but Lake Bachar struck out Meidroth before Eisert entered to fan Teel. The Sox had also struck out twice after Benintendi's one-out double in the first, so that's how their evening with runners in scoring position started.

*At least Cleveland lost to keep the White Sox's AL Central lead at two games, but with the Guardians idle, the White Sox will have to help themselves on Thursday.

*Antonacci stood by his slide afterward.

*Hagen Smith is starting Thursday.

Record: 75-70 | Box score | Statcast