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White Sox Game Recaps

Guardians 7, White Sox 6: A missed call, a caught spike, then a walk-off loss

If you ever find yourself reacting to a White Sox loss with "You think you've seen it all...", stop right there. Until somebody records the final out of Game 162, you should never be so sure.

The White Sox have played 87 games this season, they've lost 63, and this one felt like the 61st unique path to defeat.

Tonight, with the game tied at 6, one out, and Andrés Giménez on second in the ninth inning, Michael Kopech didn't get a called strike three on an 0-2 fastball at the bottom of the zone, which granted Bo Naylor another life.

On his next pitch, Kopech caught a spike on his stride and ended up bouncing a pitch behind Naylor, allowing Giménez to advance to third. That brought the walk-off productive out into play, and Naylor obliged by lifting a fly ball far enough to center that Luis Robert Jr. didn't bother setting up behind it for a throw home.

Now, it was hit far enough that Robert didn't really have a chance to get Giménez, but because Robert had time to set up for a throw and didn't -- for the slimmest of chances Giménez stumbles or something -- it came across on TV as checked-out, which is what a team with a 24-63 record can't really afford to exude.

The missed call/wild pitch/off-putting visuals chain was one of a few sequences that worked wildly against the White Sox, and negated what was a fairly inspired effort from a Robert-led offense that twice rallied to erase deficits.

Plugged into the leadoff spot for Tommy Pham, Robert had a monster game, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs. The guy who struggled hitting with runners in scoring position twice tied the game. His two-run homer off Carlos Carrasco in the sixth inning tied the game at 3, and when a Paul DeJong error cascaded into three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, the White Sox got them right back. Lenyn Sosa slashed an RBI double to right field, and after a pinch-hitting Pham got rung up on a borderline full-count slider that resulted in Pedro Grifol getting ejected, Robert made it moot with a two-out, two-run single that tied the game at 6.

But the breaks against them were more numerous.

The Sox took an early 1-0 lead on an Andrew Vaughn solo shot, but when DeJong tried to score from first on Sosa's first double of the game an inning later, a perfect relay cut him down in front of home plate.

In the third, the Guardians offense awoke. Chris Flexen poked the bear by walking the .154-hitting Austin Hedges to start the inning, and paid for the mistake when Daniel Schneeman smoked a high fastball inside the right-field foul pole for a two-run shot and a 2-1 lead.

In the fifth, Flexen balked -- a flinch only the second-base umpire saw, apparently -- Tyler Freeman to second after a leadoff single, which allowed him to score when Brayan Rocchio floated a flare into shallow right field, extending Cleveland's lead to 2.

An inning later, Josh Naylor doubled to left with one out, but made a mistake when he broke for third on David Fry's grounder to the left side. Once he realized his error, he stepped into the potential path of DeJong's throw to third, and he guessed correctly. DeJong's throw hit Naylor in the back and bounced into foul territory, which allowed Naylor to continue running home. Sosa first looked home after collecting the ball, which made his throw to second too late to get Fry. That extra out mattered, because while Flexen retired Giménez on a grounder, the Guardians still had one bullet left, and Freeman capitalized with a two-run homer for a 6-3 lead.

Bullet points:

*The White Sox went 2-for-4 with runners in scoring position and only stranded four runners, so they actually maximized their opportunities pretty well.

*Andrew Benintendi went 0-for-4 behind Robert, which made teh decision to pitch to him with runners on second and third in the seventh ill-advised.

*Grifol pinch-hitting Pham for Lee felt a little bit forced, although Lee's coming off an ugly June, and his single was a 30-foot squibber. It happened to proceed Robert's homer, so it had maximum effect, but then Martín Maldonado played the rest of the game and was behind the plate for Kopech's missed strike, so...

Record: 24-63 | Box score | Statcast

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