One theory: The White Sox wanted to test whether falling behind 6-0 was the key to unlocking the entire might of their offense after the results on Friday night.
Another theory: After winning the Crosstown Roomba Cleaning Station on Friday night, they were too exhausted to care about tonight's game.
One more: Alec Mills is a credible MLB pitcher, Lance Lynn had an off night, and you throw the results of the game in the garbage.
Whichever one you choose, Lynn is the only one with anything to glean from this. He gave up three homers over five innings -- two solo shots to Patrick Wisdom with a Rafael Ortega grand slam in between.
It's hard to tell when Lynn doesn't have his best stuff, because he's not necessarily a command artist, and he seldom looks like he's feeling it. His default mound demeanor is "inconvenienced." The Cubs manifested that feeling in the results during a five-run fourth. Wisdom golfed a 2-2 changeup out out to left to start the inning, and then after Lynn loaded the bases on two walks sandwiching a single through the left side, he got ahead 0-2 on Ortega, but he placed his 0-2 fastball in the same location as his 0-1 cutter, and Ortega didn't swing through the second one. Instead, he got enough on it to get it out to right field, and the rout was on.
If there's any solace, the outburst made Seby Zavala's misplay on a second-inning squeeze bunt moot. Had he returned to the plate after seeing Lynn come off the mound to field it, they could've cut down Matt Duffy at the plate. Instead, Zavala lingered in front of home and told Lynn to throw to first, and the Cubs had their first run.
There's also the matter that they didn't need a second run. Mills had a chance at a Maddux and a shutout entering the ninth, but had to settle for 8⅓ scoreless innings after Yoán Moncada's one-out single and a José Abreu four-pitch walk. Codi Heuer closed it out instead with a pair of groundouts.
The Sox only struck out three times on the evening, but they couldn't square up Mills. They only had four hits -- three singles and an Abreu double. Their hardest contact stayed on the ground, and Wisdom denied Tim Anderson two (extra-base) hits with sliding stabs at third. They had the leadoff man aboard in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but double plays erased the first two.
It was that kind of night, leaving the Sox to hope that they don't have that kind of afternoon on Sunday.
