Mike Vasil threw for 5 1⁄3 solid innings but the South Side bats went silent outside of a Luis Robert Jr. home run
The White Sox (25-55) thought they were going with a bullpen game and had rolled with an opener, but Mike Vasil was fairly solid in relief and was as (or potentially more) efficient than a typical starting pitching performance. The main issue at the end of the day is that the offense was beyond flat, and only scrounged up three hits the entire game, and ultimately the South Siders lost 4-1 to the Diamondbacks (41-38) to drop yet another series.
With Davis Martin still not back into the rotation, righthander Jordan Leasure made his first start and took the first inning tonight to open the game for the Sox. Leasure threw 11 of his 20 pitches for strikes, and while he got the first batter out, he gave up a solo bomb to Ketel Marte on the next at-bat, who swung away on a 3-0 fastball that would have barely painted the inside corner.
That at-bat was his only blemish, and he was able otherwise to record the next two outs, including one strikeout. Leasure probably could have been better, but for someone who never starts games, he also could definitely have been worse, and we will take it. One run shouldn’t be the end of the world, but with this White Sox team, it feels like climbing a mountain.
For an offense that has been slumping quite a bit, they continued to do just that, and Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson worked through the Chicago lineup mostly without issue. He struck them out seven times, and the only hit he gave up was a solo shot to left from Luis Robert Jr. to tie the game at one in the second inning.
Any other time there was a batted ball that might have been headed over the fence or in a gap, the D-backs defense was all over it. Rightfielder Jake McCarthy robbed a home run from Ryan Noda in the second, and Alek Thomas made a sliding grab to steal a base hit from Edgar Quero in the fifth.
Mike Vasil took over for Leasure beginning in the second and cruised through the next 5 1⁄3 innings. He gave up just three hits and struck out one up to that point, but also unfortunately hit Arizona third baseman Ildemaro Vargas in the top of the fourth on an 85 mph curveball directly on top of his foot, who ended up exiting the game with a fracture.
Vasil was fairly accurate outside of this pitch, which got away from him. He mainly relied on his sinker tonight, and it was his most effective pitch with 12 called strikes plus whiffs at a 38% called strike plus whiff rate (CSW%). He got into some hot water as the rain started to fall in the top of the seventh, as he gave up a base hit and Chase Meidroth made an error to put two runners on.
In an attempt to save the day with one out was lefthander Brandon Eisert, and he did not fare well in the rain, and two tallies were quickly charged to Vasil on an RBI single and deep sacrifice fly, though only one would be earned. Robert made a great catch to get the second out of the inning and dropped straight back for a ball straight over his head to make the catch about one step off the wall.
That would be the second run charged to Vasil before Eisert gave up one more of his own on a line drive to left over Meidroth’s head to put Arizona up 4-1.
The bats still couldn’t get going for the Good Guys, and outside of the Robert homer, they only had two other hits. Meidroth led off the bottom of the sixth with a base hit up the middle, but they couldn’t get a rally going, even with Lenyn Sosa walking to push a runner into scoring position.
Mike Tauchman then led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to right, but once again the bats went silent. They essentially repeated the inning prior as Meidroth walked to once again put a runner in prime position to score with our best hitter coming up to the plate, — but Miguel Vargas grounded into a double play to end the inning. Those were the final scoring opportunities for the Pale Hose, who went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.
For the final two innings, the bullpen was solid outside of Eisert, giving up one more base hit in the eighth. Steven Wilson was in for the ninth, and retired the D-backs in order with two strikeouts to give the Sox one final chance to score runs. Spoiler alert: They didn’t even get close to getting a base runner and had three consecutive fly outs to end the contest.
The final game of the series will take place tomorrow, weather permitting, at 1:10 p.m. CT, with Sean Burke projected to make the start.