Grant Taylor had two very different innings, and both of them mattered in a game the White Sox let slip away.
He was electric in the eighth, striking out two batters and getting a groundout in a 16-pitch frame. Then Will Venable asked for one more inning, and the ninth went sideways fast. Rhys Hoskins drew a four-pitch walk to open it, and two hitters later Brayan Rocchio turned on a first-pitch fastball that was up and away and sent it inside the right-field foul pole for a walk-off homer, despite Taylor’s plea for it to curve foul.
The result was another one-run loss at Progressive Field for the White Sox, only this one carried extra sting. It pushed the teams back into a tie atop the AL Central, and it also wasted a lead that had looked solid when Chicago was up 5-2 through 5½ innings.
For a while, the White Sox offense had done exactly what it needed to do against Slade Cecconi. After a rough start, the fifth inning finally cracked open.
Tristan Peters started it with a double to right, and the hits kept coming from there. Sam Antonacci doubled off the wall to bring Peters in, Miguel Vargas followed with a shot that bounced off the warning track in right-center, and Kyle Teel capped the rally with a two-run double to right that put Chicago ahead 3-2.
Steven Vogt then made the call to send Cecconi back out for the sixth, and the White Sox made that decision pay. Braden Montgomery led off with another double, and when Vogt tried to let the right-hander handle one more right-handed hitter, Chase Meidroth spoiled the plan by launching a fastball over the right-field wall for a two-run homer and a 5-2 lead.
But the Guardians kept chipping away, even with Chicago’s best relievers sitting there rested. The intended plan was likely two innings from Sean Newcomb, yet he had to work through traffic after walks to Steven Kwan and Travis Bazzana loaded the bases with one out. Newcomb limited the damage to a run-scoring groundout and a strikeout, but he needed 27 pitches to do it, and only 12 of them were strikes.
That pushed Venable to Brandon Eisert, who was asked to face a lineup that had largely prepared for Davis Martin. Eisert got the first two outs he needed, but David Fry came off the bench and hammered a pinch-hit homer to cut it to 5-4.
Chicago also had a chance to build in the eighth and instead gave away one of its own runners. Meidroth reached on an error and moved to second on the carom, but he tried to take third on Steven Kwan’s arm after Peters flew out to center. He was thrown out easily, and a possible insurance run vanished with the bases cleared and nobody out.
That missed chance felt even bigger because the White Sox had already done the hard work of knocking Davis Martin out after 3⅓ innings. Martin gave up six hits and five walks, fighting his glove side all night, but Chris Murphy helped keep the damage manageable at two runs.
Murphy inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam after two singles and a walk, then escaped on just five pitches. He got Chase DeLauter to pop up, and Kyle Manzardo’s liner hung long enough for Braden Montgomery to run it down in right. Murphy followed that by throwing a three-up, three-down fifth on only 10 pitches, putting himself in line for a deserved relief win before the ninth changed everything.
There were also a few smaller swings in the game that mattered. Antonacci finished 2-for-4 with the RBI double, but his night on the bases was rough, including a caught stealing after an early jump on Cecconi and a misread on Vargas’ double that cost the Sox 90 feet.
The White Sox also let a big second-inning opportunity disappear after Andrew Benintendi singled and then advanced to third when Cooper Ingle dropped Colson Montgomery’s fly to left. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Braden Montgomery grounded out, Meidroth fell behind 0-2 before rolling over a grounder to third, and Benintendi was cut down at the plate on the contact play.
Chicago did manage a couple of sharp defensive plays near the railing, with Teel and Gonzalez both making catches in tight spots to steal outs on popups.
In the end, the numbers told the same story as the score. The Guardians went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. The White Sox were 4-for-15 and stranded seven.
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Former White Sox Arm Is Already Forcing A Tough Trade Question
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Texas also added some organizational depth around him, signing infielder Santiago Espinal and right-hander Austin Voth to minor league deals. Espinal gives the Rangers another infield option while the roster is being stretched by injuries, and Voth arrives as a familiar depth arm with recent stops in Toronto and Minnesota. For the White Sox, the move is another reminder that a pitcher they just dealt is already pushing his way into a more meaningful role elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]