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White Sox Game Recaps

Dodgers 5, White Sox 4 (11 innings): Grand slam biggest, least of problems

White Sox lose

If you can look past the abrupt manner in which the White Sox face-planted into a 4-4 tie, that score after six innings at Dodger Stadium isn't necessarily the problem.

There were a couple moments after Reynaldo López gave up the game-tying grand slam that better reflect how the White Sox can't achieve escape velocity from being 10 games under .500.

No. 1: In the seventh inning, the White Sox had runners on the corners with two outs after Elvis Andrus doubled, moved to third on a Gavin Sheets groundout, and watched Luis Robert Jr. draw a walk. Robert then ran on a 1-1 high fastball that Eloy Jiménez swung through, and Will Smith faked the throw to second. He didn't go through with it because Shelby Miller was one strike away from ending the inning himself, so he didn't need to be the hero.

But Andrus thought otherwise, and when Smith motioned toward second, Andrus broke for home, only to realize when peeking around Jiménez's recoiling frame that Smith still held the ball. Smith threw behind him to Taylor at third, and Taylor slapped the tag on Andrus with a dive before Andrus could get to the plate. Just like that, a play that never works for the White Sox worked against them, and their susceptibility to it explains why they always try it themselves.

No. 2: A 3-1 slider from Garrett Crochet clanks off Yasmani Grandal's glove, allowing the automatic runner to move to third with still nobody out. That complicated Crochet's task considerably, and he ended up throwing 22 pitches without retiring a batter. He should've had one out, because Miguel Rojas tipped a high 3-2 fastball into Grandal's mitt with a checked swing, but the home plate umpire didn't catch it, and that call wasn't reviewable. Then he had to suffer through a 12-pitch walk to Mookie Betts that loaded the bases before Freddie Freeman ended the game with a deep fly ball to center that Robert saw no point in pursuing.

(Also, Crochet's velocity was down by 2-3 mph, which brought the trainer out to the mound.)

Just like that, the White Sox saw a winnable series at Dodger Stadium escape their grasps. However, if you don't really care about moments, then you can just point to the scoreboard and say the White Sox didn't score after the fourth inning, even with six innings against the much-maligned Dodger bullpen. They failed to score either Zombie Runner they had, which Veterans Committee member Dan noted in our group chat means they've stranded him in seven of 11 innings. In 2022, they stranded the runner seven times in 25 chances.

On to the bullet points:

*Dylan Cease's fastball-slider combination was rather effective, as evidenced by his 10 strikeouts. It might've been too effective, in the sense that he threw 102 pitches over 5⅓ innings. He allowed just three hard-hit balls, but he allowed 25 foul balls for just the fourth time in his career, which dragged at-bats out.

*Cease departed after giving up singles to two of the first three batters he faced in the sixth, and on elevated sliders. In came Reynaldo López, who got a flyout to right before allowing a single to James Outman, followed by the slam to Taylor.

*Robert and Eloy Jiménez went back-to-back in the first off Michael Grove, and then Jake Burger and Andrew Vaughn did the same in the fourth, allowing everybody to Remember Some Guys.

https://twitter.com/ckamka/status/1669546226813919232

*Robert and Jiménez both struck out in the 10th inning to strand the runner on third, and Burger struck out to start a fruitless 11th. They finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, but six of those at-bats happened in the last two innings.

*Both teams struck out 16 times, and the Sox struck out in clumps: Burger four times, and Robert, Jiménez and Clint Frazier with three.

*The White Sox's own bullpen work was wasted post-López, as Joe Kelly, Gregory Santos, Kendall Graveman and Aaron Bummer all threw scoreless innings, with Bummer getting the game to the 11th despite starting the 10th with the winning run on second.

*The White Sox are 1-2 when hitting four homers in a game this year.

*I'm mostly mad at López for ruining the "Grove Downers" headline I was totally going to use when it was 4-0.

Record: 30-40 | Box score | Statcast

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