On Wednesday, I walked to the record store because they were playing Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's new album in advance of its release two days later. After spinning the record, an employee announced that Isbell was playing a surprise concert on Friday night to celebrate the release of Weathervanes, and local record stores had caches of tickets for sale right then and there.
Between buying a paper ticket at a record store, and going to a concert where just about everybody adhered to the no photos/recording rule -- it was partially a tune-up for the summer tour they're starting next week -- it was a refreshingly direct and present musical experience.
It just left me to piece together what happened tonight at Guaranteed Rate Field, well after the fact. Here goes:
*The White Sox continued to do just enough to notch another win on their difficult June calendar. Both offenses were limited to a shanked solo shot to right through eight innings, but Luis Robert Jr. managed to avoid extra innings with a walk-off single with one out in the ninth inning.
*Elvis Andrus led off the ninth with a single off Dylan Floro, then took second on a wild pitch during an at-bat that ended in a Tim Anderson strikeout. With first base open and Floro's sinker-slider arsenal being way more effective against righties, the Marlins called for an intentional walk to Andrew Benintendi, which brought Robert to the plate.
*Robert illustrated the rationale when he swung over a first-pitch slider that dived below the zone, but then Floro left his second slider up and thoroughly in the zone, and Robert spanked it between the third-base line and the third baseman to win it.
*Liam Hendriks picked up the win in yet another excellent night for the bullpen. Working backwards, he, Kendall Graveman and Keynan Middleton all pitched perfect innings, even though none of them recorded a strikeout.
*Dylan Cease allowed all four of the Marlins' hits over six innings, but Joey Wendle's fifth-inning homer was the only one that accounted for a run. Wendle won the seventh-pitch battle by getting a slider that Cease left a little too high and golfing it just over the wall in right field. Statcast said it would've been a homer in just 17 of 30 MLB parks.
*Yasmani Grandal did roughly the same thing in the second inning, jumping on Eury Pérez's first-pitch fastball and hoisting it into the tables behind the right-field wall. It beat Wendle's in the sense that Statcast said it would've left 19 of 30 parks, but Grandal's was a couple ticks slower (94.5 mph exit velocity, compared to Wendle's 97.1).
*Around the solo shots, the White Sox posed more threats. They tallied just the two runs despite 11 hits and three walks, going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranding 12 before Robert won it.
*Robert needed to win it, because he had a big part in wasted opportunities earlier. Anderson led off the first with a double and advanced no further, with Robert striking out. In the third inning, the White Sox had the bases loaded with nobody out after two singles and a Benintendi walk, but Robert struck out, Andrew Vaughn lined out to third, and Yoán Moncada's line drive to right found Jonathan Davis.
*Vaughn had a tough night himself. He went 0-for-4, and 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. In the seventh inning, he followed a one-out single by Benintendi and catcher interference on Robert with a double play.
*The Marlins wasted their own opportunity in the sixth. They put runners on second and third after a one-out walk to Jorge Soler followed by Bryan De La Cruz's double. Jesus Sanchez then hit a grounder to Anderson, who finally converted an out on a contact play after blowing similar opportunities against the Tigers and Guardians.
*Jake Burger went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in place of Eloy Jiménez at DH.
*Luis Arraez went 1-for-4, which lowered his average to .400.
