In back-to-back games, the White Sox (45-81) scored 10 or more runs, but the bullpen allowed seven unanswered tallies late in the game to spoil a six-run lead in the 11-10 loss to the Braves (57-69). The South Siders did a good job of capitalizing on the majority of their situations with runners in scoring position, going 5-for-9 and leaving just three on base. Still, they didn’t score any runs after the sixth inning before finishing with what was probably one of the worst losses of the season. Everything was going great, until it wasn’t.
Though he was able to get through Jurickson Profar with no problem, Shane Smith got off to a rough start in the first and gave up a double to Matt Olson to immediately put a runner in scoring position. Just as I had referenced in the game thread, Michael Harris II continues to wreak havoc as he took advantage of the opportunity and blasted a two-run homer to give the Braves an early 2-0 lead.
The good news is that the South Side bats finally got rolling a bit into the top of the third, with Edgar Quero and Brooks Baldwin kicking off the inning with back-to-back base hits off of Bryce Elder. Chase Meidroth laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to put the runners on second and third, and the first run scored on the next at-bat with an RBI ground out from Mike Tauchman. Miguel Vargas walked to keep the inning going, just for Kyle Teel to rip a double on a liner out to right and drive in two runs to take a 3-2 lead.
Smith was most definitely not on his A-game and was having a hard time keeping runners off the bases. Similar to the first, the second and third innings started out a bit rocky as well, putting the leadoff runner on in both frames, but thankfully Shane was able to work through the trouble, holding the White Sox lead for a bit longer.
The Good Guys couldn’t get anything going in the fourth, but the Braves sure did. Ozzie Albies began the inning with a double to right, and Alvarez tried to copy Ozzie once again, but Tauchman was able to make a slick diving catch to rob the hit and save a run.
Smith rang up the next batter — his second of the night — but Profar struck again, hitting a two-run shot to take the lead back, 4-3. Olson tried to keep it rolling for the Braves and had gotten on base for his second hit of the night, but Acuña flew out to Tacuman to end the inning.
Down by one run, the South Side offense kept its foot on the gas on the fifth, rallying for five runs. Brooks Baldwin had struck out to begin the inning, but Meidroth and Tauchman got on base with back-to-back knocks just for Miguel Vargas to get a third consecutive hit and drive in the tying run to make it 4-4. The tying run was honestly a wild send from the White Sox third-base coach, but Meidroth got lucky that the catcher couldn’t hold onto the ball.
With two outs, Lenyn Sosa kept his bat hot, driving in Tauchman to take the lead with runners on second and third. The bases loaded up on the next at-bat as Andrew Benintendi drew a walk, and Luis Robert Jr. shot a bases-clearing double down the left field line to add three more runs and make it 8-4, Good Guys.
All of the madness Chicago caused was the final straw for Elder, who exited the game with a brutal final line: eight innings, nine hits, eight earned, two walks, and three strikeouts. Righthander Connor Seabold entered the game with Robert on second, and walked Quero as the first batter he faced, getting to Baldwin and officially batting around in the inning, but the frame finally ended with a ground out.
Unfortunately for the Braves, the White Sox continued to pour it on in the top of the sixth, as Vargas mashed his second hit of the night for a double to lead off the inning. Teel followed that up by sending a two-run shot out to right, racking up his fourth RBIs after homering two nights in a row to make it 10-4.
With four runs of insurance, Smith was more settled in for the bottom of the inning and threw his most efficient frame to retire Atlanta in order for the first time of the night, including ringing up his third strikeout to end the inning. He was back out for the sixth, even with a pitch count in the mid-80s, and finished off his outing well with one final scoreless frame after a difficult start to the game, backed by a diving play up the middle from Meidroth to get out of the inning unscathed. Smith ended up allowing just the four runs on the two homers, with seven hits, two walks, and four strikeouts through six innings with 101 pitches.
Time for the scary part of the night: the White Sox bullpen. Lefthander Tyler Gilbert came in to relieve Smith in the seventh, and the Braves immediately started to cook something up. After making a smooth diving play the inning prior, Meidroth made an error to start the inning that got the ball rolling for Atlanta. Consecutive singles followed, and Acuña drove in the fifth run of the game for the Braves to cut the lead to five, 10-5. Gilbert finally got the first out of the inning with Harris on the next at-bat, but Will Venable decided to go to the bullpen after that with runners on second and third.
The bullpen scaries unfortunately continued after Gilbert left the game, as Elvis Peguero threw two balls to start his appearance, then a pitch-clock violation made it a 3-0 count. He ended up walking the first batter he faced to load the bases. Peguero threw eight straight balls and surrendered a free pass to the second batter as well to walk in a run and cut the lead down to four, 10-6. Ozzie Albies was up next, representing the tying run with just one out. Albies ripped his third hit of the night to score two more runs to cut the lead to two, making it 10-8 and giving White Sox fans and players high blood pressure.
Alvarez hit a grounder to second that gave Sosa a great opportunity to try to make a double play after tagging Albies out in the baseline, but Ozzie played it well by essentially sitting down to avoid the tag as long as possible. Sosa gunned it to first to try to complete the double play, but he was just a tad too late, and the fifth run of the inning scored to cut the lead all the way down to one.
Quero continues to impress behind the plate, and caught the runner at first snoozing to pick off his fifth base runner of the year, preserving the lead and ending that disaster of an inning.
The White Sox offense was dead for the next two innings, but the bullpen continued to experience difficulties in the bottom of the eighth. Tyler Alexander loaded the bases by walking Profar, allowing Matt Olson to smash his second double of the night, and giving up an intentional walk to Acuña to load ‘em up. For a reason that I cannot yet understand, Michael Harris decided to bunt with the bases loaded, and it went right back to Alexander, who got the force out at home. No, seriously, the guy is slugging .814 over the past two weeks and had already hit a home run tonight … strange.
Because nothing actually matters, the Braves took the lead on the next at-bat with a line drive to right that ended up scoring two runs to go up 11-10. Tauchman had made a considerable effort to snag it in the air, but the ball was just too short; he was at least able to keep it in front, not that it mattered with both runs scoring.
The South Siders had one final attempt to get the win in the top of the ninth, but Raisel Iglesias shut them down. Both Vargas and Teel lined out to put Sosa up with two outs, but Harris ended up making a diving catch to end the game and seal the victory for the Braves.
This was truly a heartbreaking loss after the offense piled on 10 runs to back up Smith, but the bullpen once again was the weakest link for the White Sox. They gave up five runs last night and another seven runs tonight on five hits and four walks. Chicago will attempt to close it out tomorrow in the series finale, but hopefully the arm barn gets a good night’s sleep.