It's been a good while since the White Sox inflicted an inning from hell on someone else, unless you count the fan base.
It's unlikely that jealousy over another franchise being able to lock up a young starting pitcher to a contract extension trickled down to the players. But White Sox hitters nevertheless built upon a consistent series of mild threats in the previous three frames, culminating in a bottom of the fifth that saw Boston starter Brayan Bello throw 36 pitches in soggy conditions, allow seven straight two-out hitters to reach, and yield the first grand slam of Gavin Sheets's career (and the Sox season).
Even while failing to match the thump of his breakout rookie campaign, Sheets has been one of the White Sox' steadiest suppliers of sound at-bats, especially as the team plate approach took on Jackson Pollock aesthetic after the 2021 All-Star break. He might meekly pop-out to left, but it would largely be on a pitch worth swinging at. Displaying the best swing decisions of his career this season in steady playing time, Sheets was not the man who was going to let an 0-1 plate-splitting changeup pass--especially after a first pitch slider had him already looking middle-away--and unloaded his best swing to visit the right field seats for the second time in as many nights.
It wouldn't be the 2024 White Sox if there wasn't some sense of disappointment, even in an inning that sent 10 batters to the plate and staked them to the dreaded 5-1 lead.
Sheets' blast was an effective coup-de-gras for a five-run frame, prompting Bello to slam his glove on the mound à la Eduardo Rodríguez in the 2018 World Series. But it was three-straight singles following Sheets' blast, punctuated by Lenyn Sosa's soft infield chopper that actually ended Bello's day. Zack Kelly was summoned to keep Danny Mendick from turning a big lead into a legitimate blowout, and induced a fly out to medium right to end the soggy chaos. But in Mendick's defense, his double to left had opened the inning.
There are high pitch count no-hit bids that you wish could have occurred in a more lenient era, and there are no-hit bids so burdened with other issues that you scarcely register that history is potentially afoot. Dealer's choice on how to properly regard Nick Nastrini opening the game with four scoreless, hitless innings on 71 pitches. He walked the leadoff hitter three times and his strike-to-ball ratio remained underwater (42-45) throughout a wet afternoon, but his slider (10 whiffs on 14 Red Sox swings) still tantalized.
In his 24 2/3 innings of work this season, Nastrini has walked the leadoff man eight times, which is a little unnerving since Hunter Greene leads all of baseball with 11 such instances and has made seven more starts. That a belt-high two-strike fastball to Bobby Dalbec on the outer half sailed into the right field seats in the top of the fifth for Nastrini's only real blemish (and first hit allowed) imparts a strange lesson.
But lessons are just things to take away from losses.
Tanner Banks was dropped in to rescue Nastrini from a one out, runners on the corners jam in the fifth and promptly picked Jarren Duran off first en route to provide five outs of scoreless work. John Brebbia's quiet recovery continued with two strikeouts in the seventh as part of his third-straight strong outing, while Paul DeJong padded out the lead with his team-leading 11th homer by the time Jordan Leasure and Michael Kopech arrived.
Kopech loaded the bases in a 33-pitch ninth before striking out Ceddanne Rafaela and Duran with fastballs to end it. Perhaps it was a showman-like effort to give the fans a three-hour game. Either way, they managed.
Bullet points:
Martín Maldonado has six walks this season after a third inning free pass, alongside seven hits in 103 plate appearances. He missed his second home run of the season by mere feet in the sixth, as his line drive to left hooked wide of the foul pole.
*Andrew Vaughn's bases loaded RBI infield single in the fifth gives him an eight-game hitting streak. He's scored in all five games since returning from a sprained left ring finger. Maybe pain is his PED.
*Alex Cora was ejected while arguing the call on Banks' strikeout of Jamie Westbrook to end the top of the fifth. Banks' four-seamer caught the bottom of the zone to strand Nastrini's runner at third, but that shouldn't take away from Cora's strong performance, kicking dirt on the plate while umpire Alan Porter watched dispassionately.
*Duke Ellis is at three at-bats, three stolen bases for his career after pinch-running for Zach DeLoach in the sixth and nabbing second.
*Luis Robert Jr. had the day off.
