Having lost their last three series, the Chicago White Sox came home desperately trying to reverse course. With Romy Gonzalez heading to the Injured List with a shoulder injury, the White Sox called up 22-year-old Jose Rodriquez from Birmingham. Instead of giving the new guy a crack, manager Pedro Grifol opted to go with Zach Remillard at second base and moved Elvis Andrus over to shortstop as Tim Anderson had another day off.
Before the first pitch, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn spoke to the media. Nothing of great value was said as the franchise maintains course for now, and Hahn continues publicly backing his managerial pick. Of course, it would be odd for a general manager who was so enthusiastic about his hire to reverse course quickly.
Starting for the White Sox with Mike Clevinger on the IL was left-hander Tanner Banks. A risky move for the South Siders as the Texas Rangers hit .287/.360/.459 against southpaws in 2023.
Tanner Banks held his own for the most part. Grifol stuck with Banks for 63 pitches which covered 3.2 innings. Texas scored in the first inning as Adolis Garcia doubled in Josh Jung. Speaking of Jung, he clobbered a solo home run in the third inning off Banks.
Ezequiel Duran hit a deep fly to right field that the wind helped carry, but Clint Frazier made a nice catch at the wall. A foot further, and Banks would have given up his second home run of the night. Nathaniel Lowe tagged up and reached second base.
Nicholas Padilla replaced Banks and allowed a single to Mitch Garver. Lowe's nice piece of base running allowed him to score, and the Rangers had a 3-0 lead.
For the White Sox offense, it took them until two outs in the sixth inning to wake up. Andrew Vaughn launched the fireworks by hooking Andrew Heaney's slider around the left-field foul pole for a solo home run. It's Vaughn's 10th home run of the season.
Next was Luis Robert, and he smashed an elevated 94-mph fastball for his 18th home run of 2023.
When Eloy Jimenez lined a single to center field, that was enough for Bruce Bochy. He pulled Heaney and called for reliever Brock Burke. Facing Yasmani Grandal, it only took one pitch to end the rally with a groundout.
Aaron Bummer entered the seventh, hoping to keep his hot streak going. After allowing a single to Marcus Semien, Bummer got back-to-back groundouts. It was looking like Bummer would keep the White Sox within a run.
That wouldn't be the case. Bummer lost control of the strike zone, walking Garcia and Lowe. Then Jonah Heim laced a single through the right side, plating two more runs for Texas. The inning ended when Bummer froze Duran for a strikeout, but the damage was done.
Yet, the White Sox offense was able to build two rallies late. In the eighth inning, Jimenez hit a roller toward Jung at third base, but he misplayed, and it appeared Corey Seager, backing up the play, had a chance, but the ball slipped out of his hands. The fielding error charged to Jung loaded the bases with one out. Grandal struck out swinging for the second out, leaving the task to Jake Burger. Ahead 3-0, Burger watched a strike go by before fouling off to make the count full and eventually whiffing at a slider out of the zone.
In the ninth inning, Frazier walked, and Elvis Andrus singled to put the tying run at the plate. Saturday's hero, Zach Remillard, attempted a bunt on the first pitch but would strike out swinging. Andrew Benintendi lined out to Marcus Semien at second base, and after a wild pitch that moved Frazier and Andrus up one base, Vaughn grounded out to third base ending the game.
Game Notes:
- White Sox drop to 8-8 in June
- Andrew Vaughn, Luis Robert Jr., and Elvis Andrus had multi-hit games. Andrus is now above the Mendoza line hitting .202.
- White Sox were 0-for-9 with RISP
