Through two games, the White Sox have established two templates for losses that might be frequently used.
On Thursday, they lost 1-0 while failing to advance a runner past first base. Today, they actually erased a three-run deficit and eventually established a three-run lead against, but carrying it over the final five innings proved too tall a task, especially once the offense botched a golden bases-loaded opportunity.
Michael Soroka rebounded from allowing the first five Tigers to reach to throw five decent innings, but Mark Canha's two-out solo shot in the fifth inning narrowed the White Sox's lead to 6-4 to start the comeback.
That left four innings for the bullpen, and while Jordan Leasure pitched around a single and a walk in his MLB debut for a scoreless sixth, Dominic Leone and Tim Hill lost the lead in the seventh. The former gave up a solo shot to Riley Greene to make it a one-run game, and a one-out double to Canha before giving the ball to Hill. Hill retired lefty Colt Keith on a groundout, but righty Carson Kelly took advantage of the favorable matchup by lacing a single to center to tie the game at 6.
Kelly then drove in the winning run in the 10th, scoring the Manfred Man Canha on a single off Deivi García, who suffered the tough loss with an unearned run.
The White Sox offense didn't help, at least after the fourth inning. They went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, including two fruitless at-bats at a key inflection point in the seventh.
The Sox offense managed to coax three walks from Alex Lange to load the bases with one out (the one out should've been another walk, but Yoán Moncada took a fastball and swung over two pitches below the zone after getting ahead 3-0). A.J. Hinch called for Will Vest to face Eloy Jiménez, and Jiménez was in swing mode from the start.
He managed to check his swing on fastball running inside for ball one, but Vest's second fastball was closer to the plate, and that led Jiménez to pull the trigger and bounce into an inning-ending 5-3 double play without seeing a strike.
Later opportunities also went by the boards. The Sox had runners on the corners with two outs in the eighth after Zach McKinstry bounced a throw that Spencer Torkelson couldn't handle to extend the inning, but Korey Lee struck out on an array of high Vest fastballs.
And while the Tigers cashed in their zombie runner, the White Sox couldn't even advance theirs. Luis Robert Jr. stayed on second as Jiménez popped out on the first pitch he saw, while Gavin Sheets flied out and Dominic Fletcher struck out to end the game.
The game wasted a tremendous one-man effort from Robert, who blasted a pair of homers off Kenta Maeda, reached base four times, and made a fine running catch on the center field warning track to boot. He won a 10-pitch battle in the first inning for a 449-foot two-run shot, then followed up a Yoán Moncada triple by wearing out Maeda once more. Maeda hung a slider on the eight pitch, and Robert whomped it out to left to put the Sox ahead 5-3.
Robert ended up going 3-for-4 with a walk, seeing 29 pitches over his five trips to the plate.
Luis Robert Jr. talked up a new pitch selection drill he incorporated this offseason where he zeroes in on one quadrant of the strike zone and doesn’t deviate from it.
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) March 30, 2024
Obviously going 3-4, two homers with a walk is encouraging for the ol’ plate discipline pic.twitter.com/MlYS3iy4RV
Braden Shewmake provided some support for Robert in the even-numbered innings in his White Sox debut. He hit his first career homer on the first pitch he saw to tie the game at 3 in the second. Two frames later, he replaced Fletcher at first on a fielder's choice on a leadoff walk, moved to third on a hit-and-run with Nicky Lopez, then scored by advancing home when the Tigers threw through on Lopez's attempt to steal second. Lopez was cut down, but Shewmake scored ahead of the late throw to make it 6-3.
The White Sox were playing for one run at the time, as Martín Maldonado was showing bunt before the steal sequence. Maldonado ended up coming within a couple feet of a solo shot after the action cleared the bases, but Parker Meadows robbed him with a leaping catch just left of center. The White Sox could've used that run, but they had later opportunities to get it.
As for Soroka, his first pitch in a White Sox uniform was a Meadows triple that Fletcher didn't play particularly well, followed by a walk, RBI single and two-run single that made it a 3-0 game. Fletcher made a strong throw to third to cut down Kerry Carpenter. He might've had a chance to get Greene at home, but perhaps in response to the White Sox bringing the infield in on the second batter of the game, Fletcher showed the value of taking the out, as Soroka calmed down to finish five.
Bullet points:
*Andrew Vaughn made a pair of diving stops at first base for a pair of 3-unassisteds.
*Jiménez was also thrown out at second on either a delayed steal of a total misread of a pitch that Kelly caught without issue, so his game was a tough one.
*Soroka didn't strike out a batter, although he did get nine groundouts once he found the feel for his sinker. White Sox pitchers only recorded three strikeouts over all, inducing just 10 whiffs over 10 innings.
