The South Side offense was nowhere to be found, and Aaron Civale struggled through another start with five earned runs
The Blue Jays’ (54-38) offense once again exploded for 12 hits Tuesday. Their five-run rally in the third inning off of Aaron Civale was the main difference maker in the game, perhaps even more so than the thunderstorms that rolled in, as the White Sox (30-62) were beaten 6-1. The weather cut this one short, as the game went into a rain delay for about an hour before being called off in the seventh.
The outing began alright for Civale, who allowed a couple of baserunners in the first. Still, otherwise, he had a clean second inning and only needed eight pitches to retire Toronto in order. It was the third inning that caused all the trouble, leading to five runs off five hits and a walk. The inning began with Davis Schneider blasting a solo bomb to lead off the inning.
It ultimately took 31 pitches for Civale to make it through the inning, and after the homer, he gave up two doubles, two singles, and walked one, which allowed the Blue Jays to take a five-run lead and put the South Siders in an early hole.
The fifth run of the frame scored on a fielder’s choice from a grounder off a broken bat to Lenyn Sosa, but the double play was off the table since it was a slow roller. Civale only lasted for four innings and used 87 pitches to do so. He ended with seven hits and walked two batters, and struck out no one. Not a great outing for Civale, as his ERA ballooned up to 5.17.
On the other side of the ball, the Good Guys weren’t any better. They posted just three hits through the first five innings: a Mike Tauchman double led off the first, a base hit from Colson Montgomery in the second, and a single from Luis Robert Jr. — his first since being reactivated from the IL — in the fifth. They were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and grounded into a double play to end an inning three times, once from Vargas in the first, and twice from Austin Slater in the second and fifth.
In relief of Civale, Tyler Gilbert made his 21st appearance and was overall solid, with a scoreless fifth inning, though the Toronto offense started to warm up again in the sixth. Vlad Guerrero Jr. came up with runners on first and second and ripped a ball to the left-center wall, but his double turned into a single after the White Sox reviewed the safe call at second and confirmed that Lenyn Sosa did actually tag him. Unfortunately, another run scored and increased the Blue Jays’ lead to six.
The South Siders saw roughly one minute of excitement on the offensive side, as Josh Rojas mashed his first home run of the year over the right field fence to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Naturally, the White Sox followed this with three consecutive outs, shutting the momentum down before it even had a chance to take hold.
Out for the seventh was righthander Dan Altavilla, making his 16th appearance of the year. Altavilla gave up back-to-back base hits to start the seventh, but quickly got two outs after that before the rain began to fall. Umpires called the game with a 3-1 count and runners on first and second.
The rain came down hard for quite some time — if only the Rate had a roof.
The game was eventually called, so unfortunately, we’ll never know how that 3-1 at-bat would end. Toronto officially won the series, but the South Siders will have one more shot at redemption on Wednesday. First pitch will be at 1:10 p.m. CT with Adrian Houser projected to make the start.