Sean Burke never found a way to slow the Pirates down, and Pittsburgh made him pay almost immediately in a 9-3 win over the White Sox.
Burke’s night unraveled in a hurry. He needed 37 pitches just to get through the first inning, and the Pirates turned that opening frame into a five-run burst before the White Sox could settle in.
It started with Konnor Griffin, who turned on a high fastball after falling behind 0-2 and drove it into the left-center gap for a double. From there, the hits kept coming.
Brandon Lowe walked, then Bryan Reynolds ripped a double on a rolling slider to bring in both runners. Oneil Cruz followed by hammering a double off the center-field wall on a rolling curve, and Esmerlyn Valdez kept the line moving with another double that bounced over the wall in right-center.
Spencer Horwitz then added a 104.4 mph comebacker that kicked into center for an RBI single, making it 5-0 before Burke could record an out. Rafael Flores Jr. singled as well, but Jacob Gonzalez struck out, and Burke finally escaped with no more damage.
The second inning didn’t offer much relief. Burke allowed hard contact on his first two pitches, and those runners eventually came around after Tyler Schweitzer entered, pushing the Pirates’ lead to 7-0. By then, the White Sox were already in a deep hole, and they needed a full trip through the order before they started to make any adjustments against Bubba Chandler.
Chandler was cruising early, retiring his first 12 batters. Andrew Benintendi finally broke through with a double to lead off the fifth, attacking a high fastball.
That seemed to signal the White Sox were beginning to time that pitch better. Braden Montgomery later spoiled an 0-2 high fastball and rolled a grounder through the left side to score Benintendi, and Chase Meidroth nearly did more damage, but his bid for a two-run homer died on the warning track to end the inning.
Chicago had to settle for scattered runs after that. Kyle Teel launched a 2-0 sinker over the visiting bullpen to open the sixth, and Benintendi doubled again in the seventh before a wild pitch and a Colson Montgomery broken-bat flare over the mound helped bring him home. Gameday scored it as a groundout, though that may not have been the first label that came to mind.
With the game so lopsided, Will Venable had a much easier time managing his bullpen. Schweitzer got through the fourth, José Urquidy handled four innings of two-run ball, and Tyler Davis finished the ninth.
Burke’s final line was rough: 1.1 innings, 8 hits, 7 runs, 7 earned, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. His average exit velocity allowed was 100.1 mph. The repeated loud contact could raise pitch-tipping questions, but the stuff also looked flat, and the mistakes were right in the hitters’ lanes.
The Pirates finished with 18 hits after managing just 16 over three games against the Angels over the weekend. Munetaka Murakami struck out four times, part of the White Sox’s 10 strikeouts on the night. Teel was one of the few bright spots for Chicago, going 2-for-3, cutting down Cruz on a stolen-base attempt, and winning three of four challenges behind the plate.
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