Coming off a doubleheader two days ago and a hard-fought victory in the first game of another twin bill against Cleveland, this game had "punt" written all over it. Michael Kopech's injury forced the Sox to resort to Jimmy Lambert. Tony La Russa kept Liam Hendriks out of the mix after he pitched three times over two days. Tim Anderson got another game off, and Andrew Vaughn didn't appear in either game due to a bad allergy day.
And even with all those restrictions, some of them self-imposed, the White Sox still saw this game -- and consequently their five-game winning streak -- decided by a mere classic rookie mistake.
With a base open and a 3-1 count to Jose Ramirez with one out in the third inning, Lambert had the opportunity to cede the battle and look to get the two outs he needed from Cleveland's lesser hitters. Instead, Lambert tried to fool him with a changeup, but it hung over the center of the plate. Ramírez did what Ramírez often does with such pitches, belting it out to right to provide the game's final score.
The White Sox had chances early against Cal Quantrill and leadoff men on late, but they didn't have a great concept of the strike zone in this one, which short-circuited rallies.
They cashed in their only run off in the third, when Billy Hamilton shot a double inside first base, then took third on a wild pitch before Nick Madrigal blooped him home with a single to right. But Yasmani Grandal was rung up on a called strike three and Yoán Moncada struck out swinging, and that was more representative of the rest of the game.
Fourth inning: A José Abreu single was erased by a Yermín Mercedes double play.
Fifth inning: Jake Lamb walked, followed by a Hamilton single two batters later. Madrigal and Grandal then both struck out.
Sixth inning: Yoán Moncada shot a double to the left-center gap, only to be stranded by strikeouts by Abreu and Adam Eaton surrounding a weak Mercedes popout
Seventh inning: Lamb found a hole in the left side to greet Emmanuel Clase, but in a reprise of "Looking for a Single," Leury García pinch-hit for Danny Mendick and struck out, followed by K's for Hamilton and Madrigal to end the game.
The good news is that the White Sox's lesser pitchers didn't embarrass La Russa for getting by with them. Ryan Burr, who had been lingering on the roster for a few days when Kopech went on the bereavement list, made his first MLB appearance since two years and a week ago and retired all four batters he faced. The cutter is new, and he got three whiffs on four of them, resulting in a couple of strikeouts. José Ruiz also recorded two strikeouts during a perfect sixth.
Lambert was the weak link, although he came out firing with a changeup Cleveland hadn't expected. The problem was that he had to lean on it a little too much when he struggled to locate either of his breaking balls, and he threw enough bad ones for the opposition to start squaring him up, and loudly. The White Sox returned him to Charlotte after the game, so chalk up another victory for Burr.
Bullet points:
*Madrigal committed his fifth error when he bounced a throw past José Abreu. It would've been a single anyway, but the error is because Hernández advanced to second. Then again, that should've merely opened the base for Ramírez.
*Grandal struck out all three times at bat, and Madrigal struck out twice for just the second time in his career.
*Mercedes is hitless in his last 15 at-bats.
