The White Sox deserved to lose this game.
Or maybe Tim Anderson deserved to deliver the winning blow.
Who can say.
Anderson indeed came through with the decisive hit in the form of a two-out double in the eighth inning, but it shouldn't have been that hard. The White Sox blew a 7-1 lead via some Robin Ventura Era out-and-out neglience.
First, Rick Renteria followed Ventura's playbook by leaving in Reynaldo Lopez for 118 pitches or maybe 15 pitches and two batters longer than necessary.
López had given up a two-run homer to Jorge Soler earlier in the inning, but when he erased a subsequent walk with a double-play ball as he approached 100 pitches, I could understand leaving him in to face Billy Hamilton, hoping he could close out the sixth with a 7-3 lead. But he gave up a single to Hamilton, so it was hook time.
Nevertheless, Renteria left in López to face Nicky Lopez, who delivered an RBI triple. And then he left in López to face Whit Merrifield, who singled to center to make it a two-run game. Only after that did Renteria pull López in favor of Jace Fry, and he retired Adalberto Mondesi on two pitches to end the inning.
Two innings later, the White Sox had to contend with Kelvin Herrera in a medium-to-high-leverage situation, and he blew it for purely preventable reasons. Herrera gave up two runs because:
- He walked the catcher, who of course was going to be replaced by Terrance Gore.
- He fielded a Billy Hamilton bunt cautiously, reaching across his body with his glove on a slow roller, leaving him no shot at getting Hamilton at first.
- He didn't look either runner back, and he gave up a double-steal.
When Lopez came through with a single through the left side to tie the game, it was then that I didn't care if the White Sox won, because sometimes you need to have your mistakes amplified.
Fortunately for Renteria, they won in the second-most satisfying way. After James McCann eked out a doubled with one out in the bottom of the eighth -- he didn't hustle out of the box on a drive that bounced off the right-center wall, but Renteria didn't bench him -- Eloy Jiménez bounced out to the left side, bringing Anderson to the plate.
Anderson had already received some justice earlier in the game. Royals starter Glen Sparkman was immediately ejected from the proceedings in the second inning when his high-and-tight pitch clipped the bill of Anderson's helmet. It probably wasn't a purpose pitch -- it was a changeup -- but given that the league allowed Brad Keller to assault Anderson without so much as missing a start the last time out, the Royals were due to be inconvenienced by an absent pitcher. Home plate umpire Mark Carlson wasted no time ejecting him from the game. Jorge Lopez came in to try to clean up Sparkman's mess, but he gave up a three-run homer to Jose Abreu to make it a 7-1 game.
So that might've been satisfying enough, assuming the White Sox had won. But suddenly that fate was in Anderson's hands, and he did what he could by shooting a double past Hunter Dozier at third to score McCann, giving the Sox a lead. Alex Colomé came in for the third time in two days and pitched around a one-out single for the save.
Bullet points:
*Jiménez was credited with his first outfield assist on Lopez's game-tying single, as the throw was cut off and rerouted to second.
*Leury García had a huge game, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored out of the leadoff spot, robbing Jorge Soler of a homer (with Melky Cabrera-style trolling) and making a diving catch in on an Mondesi liner.
*The White Sox swept the series. Huh.
Record: 26-29 | Box score | Highlights
