Garrett Crochet had two outs, nobody on, and Daz Cameron down 0-2. He was about to close out the fourth inning of a scoreless game, and he had just thrown his 40th pitch.
Crochet hadn't thrown more than four innings in a start since the All-Star break, but he also hadn't been anywhere near this efficient.
"Could we see Crochet pass a fourth inning for the first time in the second half of the season?" John Schriffen wondered aloud.
"If there was a night for it ..." Steve Stone responded. "In the low 40s in pitches, is pretty good."
When Crochet finally closed out that fourth inning 16 pitches later, he trailed 1-0. Miguel Vargas' attempt to retire Cameron on a chopper by third base hit Cameron in the leg. It was scored an infield single on what was a makeable play, and so the run was earned when Zack Gelof split the right-center gap with a drive that bounced off the warning track and high off the fence. Cameron made it home under the relay, and the Athletics had all the runs they needed to send the White Sox to their 16th consecutive home loss.
Gus Varland pitched the fifth instead of Crochet and gave up another run on a two-out bloop single by Brent Rooker, and that was overkill.
What should have been a lively crowd of 26,513 -- courtesy of Hispanic Heritage Night -- had little to cheer for. The White Sox tallied only six singles and a walk over nine innings, and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Andrew Vaughn had the only multi-hit game, but even then, there was a catch. The three hitters behind him went 0-for-11 with four strikeouts, and he struck out in his lone at-bat with runners on.
He came to the plate in the sixth inning with two on and one out after Andrew Benintendi's single chased Brady Basso from the game. In came Michel Otañez, who fell behind 3-0 , albeit because a 1-0 slider at the bottom of the zone was called a ball. His 3-0 pitch was a sinker that was considerably above the strike zone, and Vaughn prepared to take his base. Whether Brian Walsh felt compelled to issue a makeup call or simply had his strike zone calibrated three inches higher for Otañez's first batter, he stopped Vaughn with a surprising "strike" that made it a 3-1 count, and Otañez found the zone for real thereafter. Vaughn ended up striking out, and Lenyn Sosa's well-struck drive to left didn't have the kind of backspin to carry it into the White Sox bullpen, dying on the warning track for the final out.
That sequence started a streak of nine consecutive Sox retired until Vaughn singled off Mason Miller with one out in the ninth. Sosa fought Miller for 11 pitches, but struck out on a full-count fastball outside the zone, and Korey Lee popped out to end the game.
The White Sox have now been shut out 18 times this season.
Bullet points:
*Robert made a couple of sliding catches in center, although one was because of a very late break on a fly ball in.
*Dominic Fletcher made a nice catch along the wall that was short of a robbery, but might've made other outfielders nervous.
*The White Sox now have to go 9-5 the rest of the season to avoid setting the modern MLB record for losses in a season.
*Alyssa Bergamini handled Gene Honda's duties tonight, making her the first woman to handle public address duties in White Sox history. She'll be in the chair through the weekend.
