Followed-from-work bullet-point recap:
*Alex Colomé blew his first save of the season, but:
- It was of the five-out variety
- He was undermined by awful defense, and
- It set up one of the year's cooler moments.
*Jose Abreu would've never gotten to silence a Fenway Park crowd that believed it to be two outs from a sweep. After a Leury Garcia leadoff single was erased on an unsuccessful steal attempt, Yolmer Sánchez -- who replaced Yoan Moncada, which is another story -- replaced him with his own single, bringing Abreu to the plate.
Abreu fell behind 1-2 on the first of six foul balls, fighting off Ryan Brasier's fastball-curve combo. After Abreu fouled off a high heater on the ninth pitch, Brasier tried to go back up there for No. 10. He left it lower, though, and Abreu got the hands in and rocketed it over the Green Monster to give the White Sox an 8-7 lead.
*Colomé didn't get the save, but he got the win, pitching around a leadoff walk to Jackie Bradley Jr. with a flyout, lineout and groundout. Had Abreu not homered, the Sox would've fallen to 1-6 in their season series against Boston, losing leads in all three games. The White Sox led this one 3-0, 5-2 and 6-3 at various points in the game.
*The White Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Chris Sale, who remained winless on the season at Fenway Park. After García singled and Moncada took a slider on the kneecap, Abreu shot an RBI double over the head of Mookie Betts. Moncada advanced to third, but hobbled off the field to be replaced by Sanchez. James McCann then started bolstering his All-Star drive with a single through the left side. Two batters later, Jon Jay then came through with an RBI hit against a lefty in as many games, shooting a single to right-center.
*Reynaldo López, no stranger to blowing big leads, gave up a two-run homer to J.D. Martinez in the bottom of the first, making it a one-run game. To López's credit, he never actually lost the lead. He had scary moments, and allowed the third run to score when he failed to cover home on his own wild pitch. Despite that brain fart and 10 baserunners to contend with, he ended up with a quality start.
*López also outpitched Sale, who gave up a solo homer to McCann in the third inning, then watched Jay score from second on a Ryan Cordell infield single to third because Michael Chavis fell asleep after stretching to catch the throw.
*The White Sox bullpen lost the lead, with Martinez a factor. He doubled a run home off Aaron Bummer in the seventh despite Cordell's best effort in center. Martinez was also on deck when Colomé tried pitching to Xander Bogaerts with first base empty and two outs in the eighth. Colomé left a cutter up, and Bogaerts smashed a single through center to give Boston a 7-6 lead.
*That said, the blown save should be pinned on the defense. Brock Holt hit a high fly down the right-field line that neither Jay nor Sánchez could close on, and it bounced into the right-field seats for a double that put runners on second and third. In came Colomé, who got a grounder to short. Instead of trading a run for an out and preserving a 6-5 lead, Rondón tried to cut down the lead runner at home and missed, so Colomé needed to strand the tying run at third with two batters. He got a comebacker for one of those outs, but he couldn't retire Bogaerts.
*Both teams lost their DH. Charlie Tilson had to leave because of flu-like symptoms -- Rick Renteria said he was throwing up -- so Jay had to move from DH to right, as Sánchez already came off the bench to replace Moncada. Meanwhile, Alex Cora pinch-hit Cristian Vazquez for Marco Hernandez, and so Eduardo Nunez had to move from DH to second.
*That's why Yonder Alonso had to come off the bench to pinch-hit for Bummer with runners on the corners and one out in the eighth, and of course Alonso grounded into a double play.
Record: 37-41 | Box score | Highlights
