If the White Sox made it possible to start recapping games before the final pitch, I probably would've had to delete a paragraph that talked about the White Sox coming away with yet another unimpressive series victory, but a series victory nevertheless.
That was my thought when the White Sox seized a 3-1 lead immediately after Braxton Garrett left the game, and more so when a two-run homer by Luis Robert Jr. gave them a 5-1 lead through seven.
Alas, Keynan Middleton and Kendall Graveman, both of whom hadn't allowed runs since April, couldn't experience the inevitable regression in separate games. Instead, Middleton gave up a pair of solo homers in the eighth to negate Robert's homer, and Graveman was greeted by a Jean Segura solo shot in the ninth.
The White Sox still had a run to work with, and when Elvis Andrus made a nifty sliding stop to retire Nick Fortes for the first out, it appeared that some order had been restored. Graveman then threw a nice 2-2 slider that fooled Jonathan Davis into an emergency hack, but Davis' late swing fooled Seby Zavala into catcher interference to put the tying run aboard.
Graveman got Luis Arraez to fly out, but he understandably pitched carefully around Jorge Soler, who had already homered twice, into a walk that put the go-ahead run aboard. Jon Berti pinch-ran for Soler, and he indeed scored that go-ahead run when Bryan De La Cruz rifled a decent first-pitch sinker inside third base and down the left field line to give the Marlins a 6-5 lead that A.J. Puk preserved.
It was the White Sox's second ninth-inning collapse in as many days, with Liam Hendriks heading to the IL for right elbow inflammation in between. These are developments the White Sox can ill afford, especially on days where the rest of the team appeared to have done enough.
Lucas Giolito was outstanding. He pitched seven sterling innings, with the only blemish a Soler solo shot on a careless first-pitch fastball. He scattered five other hits and a walk while striking out eight, and lowered his ERA to 3.54 while resuming his rebound season.
He needed to be, because the White Sox offense had nothing for Garrett. He allowed three hits, and all of them were sketchy -- a "double" that Jesus Sánchez lost in the grayscale skies, an infield single and a soft line drive that caught Arraez in between a leap and a standing catch.
But Skip Schumacher decided to pull him one out into the sixth inning, even though he was just at 82 pitches, out of fear of the Times Through the Order Penalty. The White Sox were happy to see anybody else, and that included J.T. Chargois.
He briefly built upon Garrett's body of work by striking out Robert, but Andrew Vaughn hooked a double into left field, after which Jake Burger's opposite-field line drive hit the ground in front of Sánchez's awkward diving attempt for a game-tying double.
Chargois then intentionally walked Andrew Benintendi to pick on Romy González, but González bounced a double inside third base to score both runners for a 3-1 lead. Robert then tacked on two off Huascar Brazoban in the seventh.
That's when it looked like the White Sox would win their 30th game of the season and their third straight series, but I knew better than to start writing.
Bullet points:
*Giolito benefited from some good fortune in the third, as what would've been an RBI double for Soler bounced over the fence to keep Arraez at third. He then dodged a pitch-clock violation on the first pitch to Sánchez, and turned an 0-1 count into an inning-ending strikeout.
*Segura's homer was his first of the season, leaving four MLB regulars without one. Two are on the White Sox.
*Moncada struck out in all four plate appearances, although he made a great diving catch on a smashed liner to bring the ninth to a merciful end.
