With the White Sox one out away from ending their 14-game losing streak, Jonathan Cannon got Ceddanne Rafaela to loft a weak fly ball to left field, where Duke Ellis was waiting for it.
And then Ellis dropped it, turning the Boston lineup over for Jarren Duran.
The game went no further, as Cannon induced a 6-3 groundout to record the rare three-inning save and officially bring the franchise-record skid to a close, but Ellis fulfilled the White Sox's obligation to leave doubt at every possible turn.
He also sustained the evening's theme of baffling events all the way to the 27th out. The White Sox allowed a steal of home on an appeal play, then staged a rally after small plastic liquor bottles were thrown onto the field.
Garrett Crochet was too good for any of it to matter. He now has six of the White Sox's 16 victories after striking out 10 Red Sox over six innings. He allowed just three singles, two walks and a hit by pitch, and the two runs that crossed the plate were due to his defense.
The White Sox had led 1-0 on a Luis Robert Jr. first-inning homer when Crochet started the third by walking Bobby Dalbec. Crochet responded with a strikeout, but what should've been a checked-swing strike three for Duran didn't go Crochet's way, and Duran took advantage of the second life by hitting a tapper in front of the mound. Crochet fielded it with time to plant, but he fired the throw into Duran's running line, and it bounced into right-field foul territory, allowing Dalbec to score from first despite a fine throw home from Oscar Colás.
Duran took third on the play, but the review showed that Crochet's throw forced him to alter his gait, and he never stepped on first. Pedro Grifol came out ot talk about it, and when play resumed, Crochet stepped off to appeal as Duran broke for home. Crochet pulled that throw, too, and although a larger first baseman probably would've been able to catch it, this throw bounced past Vaughn, too, and the Red Sox took a 2-1 lead.
Crochet then gave up a single to Rob Refsnyder, but Korey Lee picked him off first on an aborted steal attempt, and aside from Ellis' error, the Sox's run-prevention unit ended the silliness. Crochet successfully fielded a bunt the following inning, and although the Red Sox applied pressure by putting runners on the corners with one out, Crochet struck out Garrett Cooper and got Dalbec to fly out to right, ending the threat with professionalism.
The White Sox offense, on the other hand, was just getting started with the wackiness.
Gavin Sheets drew a one-out walk from Cooper Criswell in the bottom of the fourth, then advanced to second on a Vaughn infield single. That's when the liquor bottles started flying, causing a five-minute delay. When play resumed, Paul DeJong looped a single to left to score Sheets, and Vaughn and DeJong were able to advance a base when the throw in from Duran went to nobody and skipped across the infield.
That error was crucial, because Alex Cora played the infield in for Oscar Colás, and Colás smashed a grounder off second baseman Jamie Westbrook for a two-run single and a 4-2 White Sox lead.
Not only did the White Sox lead the rest of the way, but they tacked on insurance runs twice. In the sixth, Sheets and Vaughn went back-to-back off Greg Weissert. In the eighth, Sheets drew a one-out walk from old friend Brad Keller, then scored all the way from first on DeJong's double off the base of the left-field wall, assisted by a terrible relay throw that will likely inspire Eddie Rodriguez to take chances on future dead ducks.
That's a complaint for Tomorrow Guy, though. For the time being, the White Sox are winners.
Bullet points:
*Sheets reached base three times and scored three times, thanks to two hits behind him by Vaughn and DeJong.
*Crochet and Cannon combined for 14 strikeouts against two walks, while Red Sox pitchers only struck out five.
*Crochet threw 91 pitches over his six innings, and all but five were fastballs or cutters. He capped it off with an eight-pitch inning that mitigated any concerns about sending him out.
*Cannon picked up the White Sox's first three-inning save since Chris Beck(!) on April 23, 2018.
