The White Sox weren't in trouble before the game.
They're in trouble now.
The White Sox were outscored by five runs for the second time in as many games, this time blowing a pair of leads with their No. 1A starter on the mound. They posted four runs, which is an impressive total when learning that they're still searching for their first extra-base hit of the postseason. The defense was misplaced. The managing was reactive, except for a weird pinch-hitting decision that resulted in a weaker defensive outfield that got exposed.
Liam Hendriks did pitch in the eighth inning. Unfortunately, the Sox were trailing the Astros 9-4 by then.
They head back to Chicago down 2-0, which risks the Blackout scheme being likened to a funeral the first time the crowd is taken out of it, and many times after.
Giolito struck out the side in the first and labored afterward, and when he got through four with a 2-1 deficit, it seemed like Tony La Russa had the opportunity to apply the lesson from Game 1 and spare him the third time through. It was especially vital when the Sox rallied for three runs off Framber Valdez and gave him a 4-2 lead.
Instead, Giolito started the fifth without backup, walked two of the three batters he faced, and that's when Garrett Crochet entered. He exacerbated the issue by walking Yordan Alvarez to load the bases, after which Yuli Gurriel smashed a grounder through the middle to tie the game.
That set the theme for the rest of the game -- terrible BABIP misfortune for the Sox, and weird decisions by La Russa, and both collided in the top of the seventh.
It started with César Hernández pinch-hitting for Adam Engel against Ryne Stanek, even though Hernández hasn't been a threat against right-handed pitching in a Sox uniform. He struck out, but the Sox still managed to put together a two-out rally with a single and a walk until Yasmani Grandal lined out hard to deep right field.
In the bottom of the inning, Aaron Bummer opened the inning and gave up a bouncer through the middle to Jose Altuve. He struck out Michael Brantley, then was struck an Alex Bregman line drive that still had enough oomph to roll into center field, putting runners on the corners. Then Yordan Alvarez hit his own grounder through the middle to give the Astros a 5-4 lead. Bummer is used to this sort of issue on grounders, but what was stunning was that nobody was close to flagging them down.
In came Craig Kimbrel, and he had a Kimbrel inning. He got Yuli Gurriel to line out to Leury García, but when Carlos Correa smoked a liner the same way, he spun García around for a two-run double that broke open the game. García had problems in right field at the end of the season, making the decision to remove Engel even more pronounced. Kimbrel then cinched it by yielding a two-run shot to Kyle Tucker that buried the game.
I'll have more about the inventory of mistakes once we hear what La Russa has to say about them, but here's a spot to vent for the time being.
Bullet points:
*Tim Anderson, Luis Robert and José Abreu combined to go 8-for-13, which shows you the limited utility of singles.
*Grandal went 0-for-3 with a sac fly, but stranded six, thanks in part to that 102-mph lineout that had an expected batting average of .590.
*The broadcast featured guys aged 65, 69 and 82, and they didn't make it one inning before making a comment that required an on-air apology later in the game.
