When one pitcher gives up five homers over the course of the game's first five innings, it's worth asking if he was tipping his pitches.
When a staff gives up 13 homers in a series, there are a whole other bunch of questions to consider.
Lance Lynn got shelled for eight runs over 4⅓ innings, but the two relievers Pedro Grifol used struggled as well, and Hanser Alberto -- pitching for the second time in a series, the first for a position player in White Sox history -- gave up a grand slam to make the wrong kind of history. The Giants set a Guaranteed Rate Field record for homers in a three-game series with 13.
The White Sox only hit one, and we'll get to that in a bit, but Lynn's struggles set the tone. He gave up nine hits -- three leaving the yard -- along with three walks. His fastball only averaged 91.3 mph and his cutter got tattooed, which is why he resorted to his curveball (13) and changeup (10) more than usual.
Nothing worked. He gave up runs in four of the five innings he opened, and the Sox trailed 8-3 when he departed. Ruiz was missing two ticks off his fastball, while Gregory Santos had triple-digit heat once again, he got zero whiffs on seven swings, so that's not a great pitch for him, either.
The White Sox offense, which featured all of its bench's right-handed hitters to combat lefty Alex Wood, tried to answer early. After the Giants extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the second, the Sox cut that lead in half with Tim Anderson's two-run single, set up by the unlikely double steal by Elvis Andrus and Seby Zavala.
Lynn had two chances to encourage the offense further. In the fourth, he was one pitch away from stranding the bases loaded, but he grooved a full-count fastball to Joc Pederson, who lined it into right field to make it a 6-2 game.
Andrew Vaughn got one of those runs back with his own two-out single in the bottom of the fourth off reliever Jakob Junis, but then Lynn gave up a no-doubt two-run shot to Mike Yastrzemski three batters into the fifth, and the game was effectively over.
Not only did the White Sox bullpen struggle, but that righty-heavy White Sox lineup was stifled by Junis, who recovered from allowing the inherited run to pitch four scoreless innings of relief. He and John Brebbia combined to allowing just four baserunners over five innings while striking out six, and the Sox only got back on the board when Gabe Kapler responded to Grifol's pitching position player with one of his own.
Bullet points:
*Zavala's first stolen base withstood a challenge by Kapler. It was a close play, and if he were called out, that call would've stood as well.
*Jake Burger hit a 116.5 mph double in the first inning could be tough to top from an exit velocity standpoint. He and Gavin Sheets combined to go 1-for-3 with two walks.
*Andrus reached base three times, including a double, so he might be picking it up.
*Every White Sox starter hit safely, but if the pitching is going to give up four homers a game, they have to hit more than safely.
*Praise the pitch clock: This one only took 2 hours and 50 minutes.
