The one drawback of nearly erasing a 6-0 lead with a five-run ninth inning is the heightened attention on the ways the White Sox allowed those extra runs.
When Michael Lorenzen entered the ninth inning on 91 pitches angling for a shutout, and perhaps a Maddux at that, it didn't necessarily seem to matter that the Angels tacked on two runs with two outs in the ninth inning when Josh Harrison whiffed on a short hop and let it clank off his shin for a Jo Adell "double" that gave the Angels a sixth run.
Then the bottom of the ninth unfurled, and ... oops.
The White Sox denied Lorenzen a shutout when three of the first four hitters reached, with Leury García sending Lorenzen to the dugout with a two-run double off the base of the center-field wall. They then denied Raisel Iglesias a game finished, even though Iglesias started his appearance by striking out Reese McGuire.
Harrison drove in García with a double, then scored on Tim Anderson's single, making it 6-4 and bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Luis Robert. Robert could only manage a grounder to the left side, but he beat it out by a split second. He was initially ruled out, but the White Sox continued when the play was overturned (more on that in a bit).
Iglesias' labors continued. He fell behind 3-0 on Yasmani Grandal, pumped two quality strikes to load the count, but then lost the battle four pitches later after three foul balls and a changeup taken low. That loaded the bases, and while Iglesias got ahead of José Abreu 1-2, he nullified the advantage by drilling Abreu on the forearm to make it 6-5.
That brought Gavin Sheets to the plate, and Joe Maddon back to the mound. He called for Ryan Tepera, and Tepera did what Iglesias couldn't by getting Sheets to roll out to first base to end the game.
In the end, the White Sox notched as many hits in the ninth inning as they did in the first eight (six apiece). They saw 38 pitches, or 41 percent of the total they saw over the first eight.
Perhaps there's something they can take away from it and apply to the finale on Monday. Or perhaps they were just facing an unremarkable righty a fourth time and a closer who has been worked hard over the last week, and a fresh pitcher will undo all the work.
Their approach at the plate was mostly miserable. The White Sox struck out only three times on the day, but that's because they swing at 15 first pitches, including five one-pitch outs.
On the other side, Dallas Keuchel threw barely half of his pitches for strikes (40 of 79), leading to five walks over five innings. He could've benefited from a few plays made -- Harrison bobbled a double-play ball and had to settle for an out, AJ Pollock took an imprecise route that required a Willie Mays-like catch two feet from the wall that he couldn't commit to -- but his control dug his hole, and not his defense.
Subsequent pitchers didn't help, as Ryan Burr, José Ruiz and Tanner Banks combined for four walks over 3⅓ innings. Banks allowed the two runs that Keuchel didn't yield, but he has the honor of throwing the highest strike percentage on the White Sox's side. Sure, it was only 25 of 44 pitches, but at 56.8 percent, that's a superior clip to Keuchel (50.6 percent), Ruiz and Foster (50 percent apiece).
Bullet points:
*Robert's infield single was the fourth call overturned at first base in one of the worst performances you'll see from a field umpire. Sean Barber missed two calls for each side, as one fielder's choice was turned into a double play after a review, while Taylor Ward had two 6-3s turned into infield singles on nearly identical plays.
*Gavin Sheets went 2-for-4 with a walk, but he led the White Sox by stranding five baserunners in his two unsuccessful plate appearances.
*The White Sox turned three double plays, including two started by pitchers.
*Keuchel has 11 walks to eight strikeouts over 15 innings.
