Tanner Banks blew the save for the White Sox against Boston on Sunday, while Michael Kopech and Jordan Leasure teamed up for Monday's spectacular collapse in the opener against Seattle.
Tonight was John Brebbia's turn to take the L. He took over for Tanner Banks after a two-out walk in the seventh inning and gave up an infield single to Julio Rodríguez, which was standard baseball misfortune. Falling behind Cal Raleigh falls under "digging his own grave," and when Brebbia piped a fastball on a 3-0 count, Raleigh rifled it inot the right-field corner for a two-run double that put the Mariners ahead 4-3, and the White Sox on the course for a 25th blown lead.
The White Sox had a golden chance to tie it up in the eighth when Andrew Vaughn singled, and Duke Ellis pinch-ran to near-perfection by stealing second, then drawing an errant pickoff throw to get to third with nobody out. He just didn't have the guts to steal home, which turned out to be necessary after Paul DeJong grounded out, Korey Lee struck out, and Danny Mendick waved at a 3-2 changeup that barely made the Gameday map.
Rodríguez's legs played an outsized role in this one. In the third, he reached on a fielder's choice, then stole second, which turned out to be an important 90 feet when Raleigh's first double of the game hooked over the right-field side wall. Depending on whether they ruled it a ground-rule double or fan interference, Rodríguez might've been forced to hold up at third. Instead, he scored to narrow the gap to 3-2.
Two innings later, he reached when Lenyn Sosa comically airmailed a routine throw to first base, then stole second. Drew Thorpe denied Raleigh this time by making a fantastic play on the third-base side of the mound, gloving the ball and making an on-target fadeaway throw for the final out of the fifth.
Thanks to his own defense, he was able to leave his MLB debut with his head held high, completing five innings and allowing just two runs (one earned). The first run was his responsibility, as he gave up consecutive two-out doubles in the second that tied the game at 1.
After the White Sox retook the lead with back-to-back homers by Vaughn and DeJong, Thorpe should've had a shutdown inning, but Nicky Lopez biffed a routine grounder by Josh Rojas, setting up the sequence that led to Raleigh's first RBI double.
He finished with a decent line: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. He threw 61 of 98 pitches for strikes, and the two errors behind him added about a dozen pitches to his tab. I'll have more about his start in the morning.
The White Sox offense assisted the bullpen in the team's demise, as they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Besides the failure in the eighth inning, they were unable to truly capitalize on a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation against Jhonathan Díaz. Lopez struck out, and while Martín Maldonado shot a single through the left side to snap an 0-for-33 that dated back literally one month, nobody could follow his lead, as Corey Julks struck out and Sosa grounded out.
They tripped over themselves some more in the sixth. Korey Lee opened the inning with a single, but when Zach DeLoach floated a line drive to shallow center, he got faked out by Rodríguez's deke, beginning a retreat to first as the ball hit the ground. He couldn't recover in time, Rodríguez recorded the 8-6 forceout, and that mattered when Lopez's one-out single merely set up an inning-ending Maldonado double play.
Bullet points:
*Amid infield mistakes elsewhere, DeJong had a nice game defensively, making a slick smother on a ball his left, and later a fine ranging play to his right.
*DeLoach had a really funny diving attempt on Mitch Garver's second-inning double.
*After Ellis pinch-ran for Vaughn, Sosa played first base for the first time in his professional career, as Pedro Grifol saved Gavin Sheets to pinch-hit for Maldonado against Seattle closer Ryne Stanek.
