Pirates 5, White Sox 4: Late-inning meltdown costly

Yasmani Grandal had a good moment in tonight’s game, hitting his sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the White Sox a 3-0 lead.

The lasting taste after this game will be him dropping the ball from Jimmy Cordero. That mishap allowed the Pittsburgh Pirates to come from behind late and steal a win against the White Sox, 5-4.

Rick Renteria’s decisions were working well until the eighth inning. Dylan Cease had a good start going with four scoreless innings and got into trouble in the fifth by allowing three straight hits that scored two runs. Renteria allowed Cease to try the sixth inning, but after a leadoff single, he pulled him for Codi Heuer. That call proved to be right because the young hurler kept the White Sox ahead, and Matt Foster followed up in the seventh inning striking out two in a scoreless frame.

Handing the ball off to Evan Marshall to serve as the bridge to Alex Colome is a sound strategy. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off. Marshall allowed back-to-back doubles to Kevin Newman and Jacob Stallings that cut the lead down to one run. Adam Frazier would move Stallings to third base with his groundout to second base. The pot was boiling for Marshall in trying to hold the lead.

With the infield drawn in, Erik Gonzalez singled through the infield to drive in the game-tying run. He then added extra pressure on the Sox by stealing second base on a bounced pitch and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Marshall eventually got the strikeout he needed by punching out Bryan Reynolds.

Colin Moran was next, and Renteria went to the bullpen for his only lefty, Ross Detwiler. Detwiler got the job done by getting Moran to ground out to first base in a tough at-bat. One that saw Grandal drop a pop up in foul territory reaching over the dugout guard rail.

Heading into the ninth, perhaps Renteria could have gone to Alex Colome, hoping that his closer could get the game to extra innings. With Gregory Polanco leading off, Renteria stuck with Detwiler. That move backfired as Polanco singled, and Josh Bell also singled on the first pitch putting runners on first and second with no outs. Desperately needing a ground ball in hopes for a double play, what Renteria saw was Grandal not placing a glove on a missed sinker from Cordero, resulting in a wild pitch. Now with runners moved up to second and third, the Sox loaded the bases with no outs hoping for a ground ball to get the lead runner out at home.

Sure enough, Cordero got that ground ball from Newman. It was a nibbler out in front of the plate that Cordero scooped to Grandal. What should have been an easy exchange was a costly error as the ball fell out of Grandal’s glove, losing the game and the chance to sit alone in first place.

Joining in the mixed results performance was Nick Madrigal. He swung the bat well but did a poor job of running the bases.

Entering the game with zero extra-base hits, Madrigal hit two doubles. The first in the fifth inning when it was a scoreless game. Tim Anderson followed up with a single to center field but was hit hard enough for third base coach Nick Capra to put up the stop sign. Instead, Madrigal ran through the stop sign and tried to score. Even though the throw was off-target, Stallings did an excellent job of corralling the ball and applying a tag on Madrigal in time for the out. There was a play review, but the league office didn’t have conclusive evidence that Madrigal touched home before being tagged.

With one out and the heart of the White Sox order coming up, that was a bad mistake on Madrigal’s part. Lucky for him, Yoan Moncada hit a hard single into the shift that Anderson was able to slide under the tag at home to score the first run. Next was Grandal, who hit his two-run homer.

Madrigal picked up his second extra-base hit in the ninth inning with a ground-rule double down the right-field line. A bit of bad luck as the ball bounced over the short wall in foul territory. If it hadn’t bounced over, Madrigal would have a shot of stretching it into a triple. Alas, the White Sox were in business with Anderson next.

Unlike the fifth inning, Anderson hit a grounder to Gonzalez at short. Instead of going back to second base, Madrigal made the ill-advised decision of heading to third base. It was an easy throw for Gonzalez, and Madrigal was tagged out for the TOOTBLAN. Moncada would strike out next to end the threat.

Game Notes:

• Jose Abreu extended his hitting streak to 21 games with a single in the eighth inning. He would come around to score from first off Eloy Jimenez’s double which then gave the Sox a 4-2 lead. Those were happier times. 
• Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada both went 2-for-5. 
• Nomar Mazara almost hit his first home run with the White Sox in the ninth inning. Driving an outside fastball to deep left field but the big fly faded foul into the seats. That at bat ended in Mazara watching strike three. 
• Dylan Cease was doing well through four innings before running into trouble in the fifth inning. His final line was 5 IP 5 H 2 ER 0 BB 2 K. Cease has only struck out three batters in his last two starts spanning 10 innings. 
• Cleveland lost to Kansas City, and Minnesota split a doubleheader with St. Louis. The Sox and Indians are still tied for the AL Central lead with the Twins 0.5 game back. 

Record: 26-16 | Box Score | StatCast