Once again, the White Sox continue to prove themselves as innovators in the losing games space.
The White Sox held a 5-1 lead halfway through the game for the second straight night ... only to lose it with more bullpen bumbling ... only to tie it up again with another eighth-inning solo shot off Hayden Wisneski ... only to lose it on Michael Kopech's second pitch of the ninth inning.
Mike Tauchman reversed Kopech's 1-0 fastball just over the basket left of center to send the majority of a 40,000-plus crowd into a frenzy, and the White Sox to a franchise record-tying 13th consecutive loss.
What sets this game apart isn't the ending, because that was just batter beating pitcher, a tale as old as time. The way the Sox unraveled in the bottom of the seventh is the bigger star of the show.
The White Sox led 5-3 entering that inning, and Michael Soroka returned to the mound after a 1-2-3 sixth. He opened the inning by drilling Dansby Swanson, then walked Yan Gomes. In the middle of a protracted battle with Tauchman, he committed the White Sox's second balk with an improper step-off, which allowed one runner to score when he bounced his 11th pitch of the plate appearance past Korey Lee for a wild pitch ball four.
Soroka temporarily preserved the one-run margin by striking out Seiya Suzuki, but Jared Shuster couldn't stop the bleeding. Bellinger was able to survive a lefty-lefty matchup with a sac fly that tied the game, and while Tauchman was still on first, he eventually came around to score. First Shuster walked Christopher Morel after getting ahead 1-2, and then he gave up a flared single to center by Ian Happ, putting the Cubs ahead for the first time all night.
John Brebbia eventually ended the inning, then went the extra step by handling the eighth, but even a fresh Kopech couldn't avoid saddling the White Sox bullpen with yet another loss. The White Sox now have 22 blown-lead losses on the year, and Kopech is personally 1-6 as the pitcher of record, but since he only threw two pitches, you could still consider him rested.
Erick Fedde didn't help matters as much as he would have liked to. He was only able to go five innings, giving up two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Gavin Sheets didn't help. Playing first base for Andrew Vaughn, Sheets strayed way too far from first on a grounder to second, then didn't get back to the bag in time, gifting Suzuki an infield single with one down. That meant that when Bellinger grounded into a fielder's choice, it was a run-scoring play instead of the final out. It also gave Fedde a chance to commit the first balk during the next battle with Morel, as he did a double-take on a shake-off, and that brought the runner home from third.
Thus began the proper eroding of the 5-1 lead the White Sox started building on the very first pitch of the game, as Corey Julks sent Jameson Taillon's inaugural fastball over the left-field wall. The Cubs were able to manufacture a run in the second inning, but Fedde stranded a pair around the first extra out (the White Sox played the infield in and lost) to keep the Cubs in check until the Sox could put together a larger foray in the fourth.
It looked a little bit like Friday's opener in Milwaukee, except the Sox benefited from BABIP. Gavin Sheets and Andrew Vaughn lined singles to their respective pull fields, and Oscar Colás bounced a base hit through the middle to restore the White Sox's one-run lead.
After a Paul DeJong flyout, Korey Lee restarted the hit parade with a single to left to score Vaughn, and Lenyn Sosa muscled a single to right that scored Colás. Lee moved up to second, and although he didn't move on Julks' flyout, he was able to touch the plate on Nicky Lopez's single despite a strong throw from Suzuki.
Just like the day before, the White Sox could only add in the form of a solo homer off Wesneski in the eighth. DeJong did the honors this time on a rolling first-pitch sweeper. A bad bounce thwarted an earlier attempt to tack on runs. In the top of the seventh, Sheets kept the inning alive with a two-out single, then had a chance to score when Vaughn looped a fly down the left-field line. Alas, he had to pull up at third because the side spin carried the bounce over the side wall for a ground-rule double, and Colás struck out to strand two.
Bullet points:
*Duke Ellis once again entered as a pinch runner in the ninth inning and stole second, but he didn't need to think about third because there were already two outs. Colás lined out to keep him there.
*Robert went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in his second game back.
*The two hitters ahead of him and the two hitters behind him each had two hits. In fact, everybody besides Robert got in on the hit column.
