When looking at a given weekend's college football scores, I often have the thought of whether a lopsided score looks worse when one team gets shut out, or when a team only scores once.
A team that loses 81-0 instead of 81-3 literally has nothing to show for their effort, whereas the team that scored a field goal or safety had fleeting moments of competence. On the other hand, the team that gets shut out can comfort itself by saying it just shut down after the writing was on the wall, instead of knowing two or three points was literally the best they could do.
The White Sox came away with "1" on their side, but it was the spiritual equivalent of a safety. Lenyn Sosa doubled with one out in the eighth for the Sox's second hit of the afternoon, but Oscar Colás flied out to center, and Trayce Thompson's hot shot was stopped by a diving Matt Beaty at first base.
But Beaty was positioned far off the bag, and Thompson is fast enough to rush the proceedings, so he had to make a long, accurate flip to Collin Snyder as the pitcher covered first. He tried to lead the receiver, but his throw sailed on him, glanced off Snider's glove and rolled into foul territory, and Sosa scored on the error.
That's how the White Sox avoided a shutout, and that's why it didn't make a difference one way or another. Cole Ragans carried a perfect game into the fifth, and while Yoán Moncada spoiled that bid, he was erased on Sosa's double play. Only a Colás HBP prevented him from facing the minimum over his six innings. They drew zero walks.
Conversely, the Royals tripled up the White Sox's whole-game hit total against Jesse Scholtens alone. They pounded Scholtens' mistakes for five runs on nine hits, including two homers, over 3⅔ innings. Declan Cronin managed to strand Scholtens' bases-loaded situation to end the fourth,. but then the Royals teed off on him in the fifth en route to a seven-run fifth that turned the afternoon into a Labor Day laugher.
Bullet points:
*Daryl Van Schouwen noted that White Sox starters have a 7.27 ERA over their last 11 games, so the absences of Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito are properly being felt.
*Andrew Vaughn made a nice diving catch on an MJ Melendez liner to end the third, preceded by Korey Lee gunning down Edward Olivares on a stolen-base attempt, so the Sox defense tried to help out Scholtens.
*Olivares hit two homers instead. That was easier.
