No lead is safe this series, but the White Sox actually had the misfortune of owning one this time, and boy, did they lose it.
They White Sox carried a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning, only to see their two best relievers lose it in dramatic fashion. The Orioles blasted three homers, with one coming off Jordan Leasure, and two off Michael Kopech to secure the series win with one game to play.
Leasure had picked up Erick Fedde, stranding both inherited runners with a pair of strikeouts to keep Baltimore scoreless through seven. Then he was tasked with opening the eighth against the top of the order, and that didn't go so well. He got Gunnar Henderson to line out to Tommy Pham, but he walked Adley Rutschman, then hung a slider to O'Hearn, who lofted the ball just out of the reach of Corey Julks for a two-run homer.
Michael Kopech entered with clean bases, but that didn't matter. Ryan Mountcastle doinked a grounder inside first base for a single, and then Kopech hung a cutter* to Anthony Santander, who crushed it out to right for a 4-3 Baltimore lead. Kopech came back to strike out Colton Cowser, but when he started Jordan Westburg with a grooved thigh-high fastball, Westburg didn't allow him to throw a second pitch, instead drilling an opposite-field solo shot for an insurance run the Orioles didn't need.
(*Statcast characterized it as a slider, which reflects how much went wrong with it. "I know what I did wrong on that cutter. I flew open, it backed up, stayed on the outer half of the plate. He got to see it the whole way in, and he was ready for it, put a good swing on it,” Kopech said.)
Korey Lee nearly made that insurance run count in ninth. With two outs, he sliced a fly ball down the right-field line, which escaped Kyle Stowers' diving attempt, but Junior Valentine called it foul while Lee rounded the bases. A inconclusive review showed it could've gone either way, which wasn't enough to overturn the call, and Lee ended up striking out to end the game.
The White Sox led 3-0 because of a very important swing by Gavin Sheets in the fifth. Keegan Akin opened the inning in relief of Albert Suárez by losing two lefty-lefty battles, walking Andrew Benintendi and allowing a single to Nicky Lopez. Martín Maldonado bunted them over, after which Akin pitched around Tommy Pham to load the bases for Andrew Vaughn.
Vaughn immediately popped out, and that brought Sheets to the plate. Akin, who surely couldn't lose a third matchup with the platoon advantage, got ahead 0-2 to Sheets, but after bouncing a slider, he returned to the strike zone with a fastball, and Sheets split the right-center gap. And not only did he split the right-center gap, but the ball took a wicked bounce off the base of the wall, allowing Sheets to clear the bases with his first career triple for a 3-0 lead.
That put Fedde in line for the win, and he would've deserved it. He allowed just two singles and two walks through his first six innings, and he once again had the use of all his pitches after struggling to get the Blue Jays off his sinker the last time out. He got by with his fastball for the first three innings, which set up a split-change-forward attack over the second half of his start. He didn't light the world on fire with whiffs (only seven), but he struck out six while yielding just four hard-hit balls, which is the best of both worlds for him. He didn't get a decision for his efforts, but he did lower his ERA to 2.80.
Bullet points:
*Bryan Ramos went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in his return to the lineup.
*Pedro Grifol didn't pinch-hit for Maldonado with Lee with two on and two outs in the sixth, but he did pinch-hit for him with two outs in the ninth, after the five-run eighth.
*Dillon Tate earned the win in relief for Baltimore, retiring all seven batters he faced with four strikeouts, throwing 18 of 22 pitches for strikes.
*The White Sox have now allowed twice as many homers (72) as they've hit (36).
