Even if Tim Anderson were able to get the force at home with the bases loaded, nobody out and the White Sox clinging desperately to a 1-0 lead they staked way back in the fourth inning, there's a chance that they still lose this game going away. Joe Kelly didn't have a feel for his changeup, or any of his other pitches, really, and that got him into big-time trouble well before Bryan De La Cruz hit a bouncer to Anderson.
Nevertheless, Anderson had a fairly routine play in front of him to keep the Marlins off the board for at least one batter. Alas, just like he did against the Guardians and Tigers in high-leverage situations over the last month, Anderson botched it. He pulled up to throw before the ball entered his glove, and it trickled behind him for a game-tying error.
Then Kelly sealed the deal after that. He walked Jesus Sanchez despite getting an 0-1 head start on a batter timer violation for the Marlins' first lead of the series, gave up another run on Yuli Gurriel's productive chopper before departing. Garrett Crochet tried to stop the bleeding with a strikeout, but he gave up a two-run double to Jean Segura to kick the score out of reach.
The White Sox had walked the tightrope the whole game. Segura's double was the Marlins' first hit with runners in scoring position all day, and Jacob Stallings' subsequent strikeout sealed their performance at 1-for-16.
Michael Kopech managed to go five scoreless without a single 1-2-3 inning. He plunked the first two batters of the game, which set the tone, but he managed to limit the free bases to a walk after that, and while the Marlins tagged him for five hits over five innings, four of them were singles.
Gregory Santos followed suit with high-pressure pitches. He put two on in the sixth, then needed a diving catch from Gavin Sheets(!) to keep the seventh scoreless. Even Reynaldo López got in the act, walking the first batter he faced before ending the seventh, before finally delivering the Sox's first clean inning in the eighth.
After all the teases, Segura's double gave the Marlins their first hit with runners in scoring position 15 at-bats into the game, and finished 1-for-16 in that department.
Still, it's better to have opportunities than to not have them, as the White Sox found out. The Sox went just 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, and one of those at-bats came with two outs in the ninth after Yoán Moncada doubled to keep the game alive, briefly.
Vaughn poked Sandy Alcantara's first pitch of the fourth inning into the Leinie Lodge in right, and the Sox seldom threatened around that moment. Yasmani Grandal doubled with two outs in the third, and then Elvis Andrus worked his way into scoring position in the eighth with a single in a stolen base. Alas, he tried stealing third when Andrew Benintendi hit a line drive to left field, and he couldn't make it back to second in time.
It's a costly loss and a cautionary tale. The offense just isn't providing much of a margin for error, and there's no recourse when mistakes cascade.
Bullet points:
*Kelly is now 1-for-3 in actual save situations. He has two other blown saves on his record from leads lost in the seventh and eighth innings, when he wouldn't have been expected to pitch the ninth. Kendall Graveman had pitched the last two days and Liam Hendriks averaged 94 the day before, so Kelly wasn't a bad call.
*Before Anderson's error, this game featured plenty of sterling defense on both sides, including a nifty Moncada 5-3 double play that ended an inning.
*Anderson's error prevented the Sox from reaching 10 games with their errorless streak.
*At least Kopech provided some fun trivia:
