SEATTLE — The Chicago White Sox were in a six-run hole after two innings Wednesday against the Seattle Mariners.
But in the ninth inning, they brought the go-ahead run to the plate. The Sox couldn’t complete the comeback, falling 8-6 in front of 32,756 at T-Mobile Park.
“Go down six early in the game, you have a choice — you could pack it in or fight,” manager Will Venable said. “Our guys have always chosen to fight. It was great to see the continued effort, the continued battle.
“In the second inning, if you would have said we’d get the tying run at the plate in the ninth, we’d be happy with that. Tough start to the game, but really pleased with the guys’ effort throughout the game.”
The Sox entered the ninth down 8-5. Facing Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz, Michael A. Taylor led off the inning with a home run. Brooks Baldwin and Mike Tauchman walked, giving the Sox runners on first and second with no outs.
Muñoz rebounded. First, he struck out Lenyn Sosa. Andrew Benintendi lined out to left field. And Luis Robert Jr. bounced into a force play at third to end the game.
“There are no moral victories, we came to win this game today,” Venable said. “And we’re not happy with the results, but how you lose matters. These guys went out there and continued to fight like they have all year and for me, I’m pleased with that.”
The Sox fell behind quickly as Jonathan Cannon surrendered a two-run home run to Josh Naylor in the first inning and a three-run home run to Julio Rodríguez during a five-run second inning.
Cannon had his shortest outing of the season, allowing seven runs on four hits with one strikeout and three walks while throwing 59 pitches in 1 2/3 innings.
“Lack of execution early in counts,” Cannon said. “Just got to be better early in the count, get ahead of guys. I felt I was in a ton of 2-0, 3-1, 3-0 counts today, that’s way too good of a lineup to put yourself in those situations, especially with guys on base.”
It’s been a rough stretch recently for Cannon. The right-hander allowed five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings on July 23 at Tampa Bay. He went six innings on July 29 against the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing six runs on seven hits.
“Definitely in a little bit of a rough patch right now,” Cannon said. “The last couple of outings have been bad. Today was a lot of falling behind. Having to throw hard stuff over the plate to really good hitters. Some bad pitch-calling on my part as well.”
He had been sharp prior to the dip, allowing a combined six earned runs in four outings from June 29 to July 18 (20 1/3 innings).
“We’ve got to figure out what the issue is and get him back to being Jonathan, somebody who has been a big part of this club,” Venable said. “For us to be good, we need him to be good.”
Naylor’s two-run home run in the first inning — his second of the series — gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead.
The Sox cut the deficit in half in the second inning. Robert singled, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Cal Raleigh.
Chicago White Sox’s Luis Robert Jr. scores on an RBI single from Curtis Mead against the Seattle Mariners during the second inning on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Robert scored on a single to right by first baseman Curtis Mead, who made his first Sox start since being acquired from the Rays at the trade deadline on July 31. He was called up from Triple A on Sunday.
Robert made a tremendous diving catch with two on and one out in the second, robbing Cole Young of a hit. Cannon was an out away from a scoreless inning, but he walked Randy Arozarena to load the bases.
Raleigh drove in two with a single. Rodríguez followed with the three-run home run, giving the Mariners a 7-1 lead.
“Just not enough strikes,” Venable said of Cannon’s start. “We were behind pretty much every hitter, unless they put the ball in play early. We were just behind in the count and with a lineup like this, just really hard to get outs like that.”
Tyler Alexander aided the Sox in relief, allowing one hit in 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
The Sox started their comeback slowly, scoring once in the third on an RBI single by Benintendi. Back-to-back home runs by Tauchman (two-run) and Sosa in the seventh against reliever Eduard Bazardo got the Sox within 7-5.
The Mariners answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Taylor responded with the homer in the ninth. The Sox had traffic later in the inning, but wouldn’t get any closer.
“We continued to compete,” Taylor said. “Guys didn’t give away at-bats, we were looking for opportunities to manufacture runs. Just came up short.”
The Sox (42-72) will try to build off that late-game momentum as they look to avoid getting swept when the three-game series concludes Thursday afternoon.
“For me to put them in that big of a hole early and to be one swing away there in the ninth, that speaks to the type of guys we have on this team. To be able to battle back from a six-run deficit in the second inning against that pitching staff is tough,” Cannon said. “The fact we were one pitch away is really cool to see.”
Originally Published: August 6, 2025 at 9:37 PM CDT