The South Side offense racked up nine hits while the pitching staff struck out 12 in Tuesday’s win in Cincinnati
What a game it was for the White Sox (13-29), who led for a majority of the game before blowing the lead in the bottom of the ninth to allow the Reds (20-23) to push the game into extras. A thrilling 10th inning two-out rally for the South Siders was the difference in this contest, as they were able to pull ahead and earn their first extra-inning win of the season. The Sox are 6-6 to start the month, and miraculously have a positive run differential (+1) for a change. It’s not much, but with this team, it’s also not nothing.
Brandon Eisert was the opener for the White Sox and was highly efficient in his opening inning. He threw eight of nine pitches for strikes, with five called strikes + whiffs, and even though it was a small number of pitches, his called strike + whiff rate was 56%.
Taking over for Eisert was Jonathan Cannon, who entered the game for his eighth appearance of the season. He tossed a clean second inning, striking out two batters, but Cannon got into some trouble in the third. Matt McLain doubled, but thankfully, Michael A. Taylor was on it defensively and made a great catch in the gap to save a run.
The righthander remained in control for the next two innings. He added two more strikeouts and struck out at least one batter per inning. Cannon gave up another double in the bottom of the fifth, but made a fantastic heads-up play on a grounder back up the middle to get Spencer Steer out at third and eliminate the scoring threat.
The South Side offense was having a hard time against Andrew Abbott, who racked up five strikeouts through three innings — even striking out the side in the third … yikes. He would strike out two more to make it seven on the day, and the White Sox struck out 10 total times against the Reds’ pitching staff.
Abbott had surrendered just one hit to Lenyn Sosa through three, but the White Sox bats started to click in the fourth. Miguel Vargas got on base on a pop fly that landed in the Bermuda triangle in short left-center that caused Elly De La Cruz and TJ Friedl to collide, and Vargas was able to stretch it into a double. Edgar Quero has been solid with runners in scoring position, and it was no different tonight as he drove a 104.9 mph single through the right side to take a one-run lead. This would be his first of three hits, as he ripped yet two more hard-hit balls up the middle, going 3-for-4 on the night.
That was the only run that Abbott allowed in his six innings before Graham Ashcraft came in to relieve in the seventh. The offense heated up against Ashcraft with a leadoff double from Andrew Vaughn, who is so slow that he barely made it to second with a ball to the right field corner. Lenyn Sosa poked another base hit to move Vaughn to third, bringing Tim Elko up with runners on first and third. For whatever reason, Will Venable decided to pinch run Brooks Baldwin for Sosa … rather than slow poke Vaughn over at third.
This actually came back to bite them, just as you would expect! Josh Rojas grounded out to first, just for Vaughn to be thrown out in a backfired attempt to make it home. Once again, the Sox remain with one run. It’s a great thing that the Cincinnati offense was having a bad day.
Once again, Cannon was lights out for the bottom of the seventh to round out his six innings. He ultimately gave up four hits, struck out six, and positioned himself nicely for the win so long as the bullpen can hold on. Jordan Leasure took over in the eighth and got out of the inning without giving up any runs. He did allow a double to Connor Joe, but Edgar Quero flashed his arm strength by throwing him out on a stolen base attempt.
Steven Wilson entered the game in the bottom of the ninth, still up just one run, and to say that didn’t make me nervous would be a lie, given the track record of the bullpen in close games. It’s almost as if I watch too many White Sox games, because as I typed this, Elly De La Cruz blasted a breaking ball that missed right down the middle 435 feet over the right field fence — the hardest hit ball of the game that left the bat at 114.9 mph. Wilson recovered after the home run and retired the next three in order to send the game into extras. “Yippee, free White Sox baseball,” I say through tears.
Brooks Baldwin started the inning as the ghost runner on second base, and the Good Guys quickly rounded up two outs as Elko and Rojas weren’t able to make anything happen. Matt Thaiss came in to pinch hit and walked to extend the inning and flip the order over to leadoff hitter, Chase Meidroth. Meidroth singled to right to plate the go-ahead run, and to make things even better, Miguel Vargas followed that up with a three-run shot to left to put the Sox up, 5-1. Wilson was likely doing kick flips in the dugout after being bailed out by the offense — blowing the save and then getting credit for the victory.
Once again, it was the bullpen’s turn to keep the lead now that it was taken back, and lefthander Cam Booser came in for the bottom of the 10th in an effort to close out the game. Perhaps he would have been better for a lefty/righty matchup for De La Cruz in the bottom of the ninth, but hindsight is always 20/20, and it probably doesn’t make too much of a difference with this bullpen. Somehow, some way, the South Siders were able to get the win as Booser struck out Connor Joe to end the game.
The win probability chart looked like a roller coaster ride with a massive drop, one that I don’t typically want to be on.
FanGraphs
Now let’s collectively exhale — we have to do this two more days before we fire up the Crosstown Classic this weekend.