A seventh inning to be remembered does the trick
The 1:10 p.m. Central start became a 4:45 p.m. Central start, but that didn’t bother the White Sox, not one little bit.
Especially in the seventh inning.
To set the scene, it’s 2-2, the Sox runs coming on solo shots by Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery off Taijuan Walker, who’s taken to serving up gopher balls of late. But Walker is out, old buddy Tanner Banks has had a nice inning, and it’s Max Lazar’s turn on the mound, which went:
Josh Rojas 107 mph double. Mike Tauchman single (one of three for him in the game). Rojas thrown out at home. Lenyn Sosa, in for Chase Meidroth, who’d been hit on the hand, flare single to right on a shoe-high pitch, Tauchman scores. Andrew Benintendi bloop single. Miguel Vargas 378’ three-run homer. Teel single. Luis Robert Jr. single. In case you lost count, that’s seven straight hits. Montgomery K. Edgar Quero 3-run HR.
Nice inning, eh? Eight hits, including two dingers, seven runs, 9-2 lead.
The Phils put up a minor threat in the eighth, with two on for what looked like a Bryce Harper three-run shot, but, of all people, there was Andrew Benintendi.
A Brandon Marsh solo shot in the ninth made the final 9-3, in a game where it looked like the Phils were the struggling team and the Sox were a powerhouse.
Speaking of power, the TV folks said this is only the fifth time since 1906 to get four homers from batters 25 or younger, so, what the heck, here they are:
This being the last game before the trade deadline, scheduled starter and definite trade bait Adrian Houser was pulled in favor of Tyler Alexander, who did a nifty Mark Buehrle imitation first time through the order, no hits, one walk, three K’s, on just 24 pitches. He ran into trouble in the fourth and gave up three straight hits, at which point Mike Vasil entered. He allowed one more RBI single, but got out of the jam with a double play and proceeded to toss four innings of three-hit, no walk ball.
Austin Slater was traded to the Yankees for a minor league pitcher in the morning, but by the end of the game, that had been the lone official move, with the deadline at 5 p.m. Central tomorrow. If this was to be Luis Robert Jr.’s last Sox game, he went out in style, with three hits, the first a 111 mph shot that went off the wall and back to Marsh so fast he was held to a single. La Pantera got a stolen base, too, albeit on review.
The amazing post-All-Star break Sox took the series from the mighty Phillies and are now 40-69, with a day off tomorrow as they head to the West Coast to visit the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners.