It looked for just a second, perhaps two seconds, as if the White Sox were going to have enough good fortune to have a crack at sweeping the Reds. Miguel Vargas led off with a dribbler to third off of Nick Martinez and was initially called safe. Alas, the call was challenged by Terry Francona and (quite properly) overturned.
That was the closest the Sox would come to a base runner until a Matt Thaiss single in the fifth, and by then they were down, 5-0. Martinez yielded one more single and no walks in seven innings, the lone Sox run coming off a reliever after a Joshua Palacios double and a single by Vargas (who had half the team’s four hits), in the eighth.
Meanwhile, Bryse Wilson was being clobbered. He opened the game with a four-pitch walk to Gavin Lux and before the inning was over had given up three runs. He got through the second thanks in part to a nice grab by Luis Robert Jr. on a Matt McLain blast:
But that was it for goose eggs, as Wilson was tagged for solo runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, including homers by Elly De La Cruz, Will Benson, and McLain, who came into the game hitting .171 and also smacked a double and walked.
Robert looked like he had measured Benson’s blast, but couldn’t squeeze it:
Robert’s one-for-two on great catch attempts was at least better than his hitting, an 0-for-3 with a K day that won’t help his trade value. That was at least better than the 0-for-4, 2 K days of Josh Rojas and Andrew Vaughn, who shouldn’t be giving up their Chicago apartments just yet.
Wilson at least carried out his most important function besides actually stopping runs, lasting into the sixth on 90 pitches and helping rest a tired bullpen before the Crosstown series that starts tomorrow. Jared Shuster and Yoendrys Gómez (just picked up on waivers from the Dodgers) finished the game without further damage.
Dreams of a series sweep swept away, the Sox begin the long trek eight miles up the Red Line tomorrow afternoon, with Shane Smith due to face just-called-up Cubs rookie Cade Horton in the opener.
Poll
Who at least did something good for the Sox?
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Miguel Vargas, two singles, RBI
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Joshua Palacios, double, run scored, nice catch
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Bullpen, 2 2/3, no runs
(0 votes)
0 votes total
Poll
Who came off the worst?
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Bryse Wilson, 10 hits, seven runs in 5 1/3
(0 votes)
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Josh Rojas, 0-for-4, 2 Ks
(0 votes)
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Andrew Vaughn, ditto
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Jerry Reinsdorf, because always
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0 votes total