Had the White Sox taken my advice and petitioned the league to bat first at home, they could've headed home a lot earlier, and at least a little drier.
Instead, they had to wait out a 1 hour, 10 minute rain delay in the middle of the ninth inning in order to be retired in order on seven pitches to wrap it up. The White Sox have lost six in a row and 11 of 12, and they have now have a three-game lead in the worst first 56 games in franchise history.
This game had already dragged out plenty, what with the 40-minute delay to start the game, and a few interminable tops of innings during. White Sox pitchers gave up 13 hits and eight walks, and threw 195 pitches to Toronto's 123.
Jake Woodford did his best impression of Mike Clevinger by being unable to complete five innings in his White Sox debut, although the second inning was his only problem. Despite retiring the first two batters, he ended up giving up three runs. George Springer singled to keep the inning alive, and then the Jays started hitting the ball in Andrew Benintendi's direction. Isiah Kiner Falefa's double scored Springer from first because Benintendi missed the cutoff man. Woodford then walked Kevin Kiermaier to turn over the lineup, and when Davis Schneider's line drive short-hopped the left-field wall and stuck on the warning track, both runners had ample time to score on the relay home for a 3-0 lead.
Toronto could've stopped there, but they came through with a couple more tough-to-watch innings. In the sixth, Tanner Banks loaded the bases on an infield single and two walks. He had a path towards a clean getaway when he induced a grounder to first, and Andrew Vaughn fired home in hopes of starting a 3-2-3 double play. The throws were good, but Vaughn was said to not have found the bag on Korey Lee's turn, and although a replay seemed to show his heel finding the bag, New York said the angles were inconclusive. That gave the Jays an extra out, and a sac fly made it a 4-1 game.
In the eighth, Tim Hill gave up six singles, becoming the first White Sox reliever to give up six singles in an inning since ... Josh Harrison in 2022.
The White Sox offense was largely Nicky Lopez and Zach Remillard, which wouldn't be as much of a problem if the former wasn't replaced by the latter. Lopez went 2-for-3 with a triple and a double. The triple ended up getting stranded by a Vaughn double play in the first inning, but his two-out double in the third scored Corey Julks and put the Sox on the board.
In the eighth, Remillard singled with two outs, moved to third on Danny Mendick's double, and scored when Vaughn shot a single through the left side. That at least provided some semblance of a silver lining to his night, whereas Benintendi went 0-for-4 and had three runs score on his arm.
Bullet points:
*Ramos was charged with an error on a wide throw to open the sixth inning, but a first baseman of average first baseman height catches it. (A first baseman of average height might've also found the bag on the attempted 3-2-3 double play.)
*Jordan Leasure walked the bases loaded in the seventh, throwing just 12 of 27 pitches for strikes. He managed to post a zero, but it added to the game's ass-dragging pace.
*Garrett Crochet was ejected in the ninth inning before the second rain delay by home plate umpire Nick Mahrley.
