Jake Bennett didn’t need much help, and the White Sox didn’t give him any reason to ask for it.
The Red Sox left-hander carved through seven shutout innings on just 81 pitches, and even with his highest single-inning pitch count coming in the second at 19, Chad Tracy still kept him from starting the eighth. By then, Bennett had already retired 13 of the last 14 hitters he faced, and the bullpen finished the job from there as Greg Weissert and Jovani Moran each threw a scoreless inning in a 5-0 Red Sox win.
For the White Sox, it was another night of very little against a lefty. After Peyton Tolle threw six shutout innings on Tuesday, Bennett made it two straight games of frustration for the lineup. The White Sox did at least avoid a team Maddux, but they still needed 103 pitches to get through the game.
"Both guys had great extension," said Randal Grichuk, stipulating that this is an element that working on pitching machines, even Trajekt, cannot replicate. "Tonight’s guy, hit his spots, threw the ball well, pitched in, pitched up, pitched down. I was saying in the 7th or 8th that was the best located pitched game by a starter against us all season."
Bennett’s night was built on command and adjustment. He came right at the White Sox with fastballs inside the first time through the order, then shifted when they started looking to jump the heater. From there, he worked fastballs out of the zone and mixed in changeups away, turning at-bats into quick outs.
"It’s one of those things you gotta just get it out front a little bit," Grichuk said. "Once you do that, they see it and they are going to go soft."
The only real trouble for Bennett came in the second, when Chase Meidroth singled and Sam Antonacci walked to open the inning. He answered with strikeouts of Braden Montgomery and Junior Pérez, then got Kyle Teel to roll over and end the threat. The White Sox never got another runner into scoring position.
Davis Martin kept the Red Sox quiet for two innings, retiring the first six hitters he saw. But the hard contact that showed up early eventually turned into damage. After Jarren Duran worked a walk to start the third, Carlos Narvaez laid down a sacrifice bunt, and then the inning started to unravel.
Tsung-Che Cheng drove a single to center to score Duran and moved up on the throw home. Teel then let a passed ball get away, sending Cheng to third, and Anthony Siegler followed with a walk. Cedanne Rafaela made it 2-0 with a double that brought Cheng in, and the Red Sox still had only one out.
Martin got a second out when Miguel Vargas stopped Wilyer Abreu’s grounder while playing in, but the inning kept getting messier. Willson Contreras fouled a ball off his foot, then Siegler tried to score on a wild pitch and beat Teel to the plate, though the collision ended with Siegler leaving the game. Contreras then lifted a deep fly to center, where Pérez ran it down while crashing into a post to finally close the inning.
The Red Sox later announced a bruised trap for Siegler and a bruised foot for Contreras.
Martin’s night got away from him again in the fourth. Boston opened the frame with four singles among its first five batters, pushing the lead to 5-0 before Martin finally escaped with a pair of groundouts. He needed 39 pitches to get through the inning, which made a fifth unrealistic.
Chicago’s bullpen did its part to keep the score from ballooning. Chris Murphy threw a scoreless fifth against his former team.
Seranthony Domínguez worked around a one-out walk after Teel threw out another stolen-base attempt at second. Bryan Hudson hit Rafaela with a pitch, then picked him off twice in the seventh, with the second one counting.
Trevor Richards handled the last two innings for his 14th game finished.
The White Sox offense never found a rhythm outside that second inning, and even that brief threat ended without a real breakthrough.
The shutout was the White Sox’s fourth of the season, though the first three all came in the first 15 games, with the most recent before this one coming on April 11.
Antonacci had another encouraging night against a left-handed starter, reaching base with a single and a walk. Luisangel Acuña singled in both of his plate appearances, and Meidroth had the only other hit.
Martin came in with a 5-0 record and a 0.88 ERA in seven home starts. He left at 5-1 with a 1.80 ERA.
Acuña was also charged with the game’s lone error when he tried to field a Rafaela grounder and throw in one motion, but sailed it to Vargas, who made a leaping catch and couldn’t come down in time.
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