The White Sox are 32 games into their season, and they still only have one save to show for it, and an accidental one at that.
Tonight showed why that stat isn't always a bad thing. After a Yainer Diaz solo shot off Jordan Leasure cut the White Sox's lead to 4-3 in the top of the eighth, the Sox took advantage of numerous mistakes from Astros relievers for a three-run answer, meaning that when Cam Booser came out to pitch the ninth, the save situation he'd prepared for no longer existed. He walked the first batter he faced, but after an Edgar Quero mound visit, he retired the next three without issue to seal a second conseuctive win.
The Houston bullpen has been one of the more effective units, but with the Astros trailing all evening, Joe Espada didn't send his best to the mound. Tayler Scott opened the bottom of the eighth inning with walks to Quero and Andrew Vaughn, and Lenyn Sosa bunted them over. The move showed an unusual amount of faith in Jake Amaya, but Amaya blistered a grounder past a drawn-in Jeremy Peña to make it a 5-3 game, with pinch-running Joshua Palacios moving to third.
In came former White Sox reliever Bennett Sousa to face Brooks Baldwin, who fouled off a pair of push bunt attempts before hitting a weak comebacker to the mound. What should've been a victory for Sousa turned into defeat when he barely looked at Palacios, and Palacios kept his momentum going toward home plate, scoring without a throw from first. Michael A. Taylor then doubled home Amaya for the final blow.
"He was stuck in no man’s land and just froze and was able to read the play and continue on home," Will Venable said. "That was a huge play and a great one by Josh."
The White Sox had to settle for seven runs instead of their customary eight, but it's a result they'll take against Framber Valdez. Debuting their new Bulls-red City Connect uniforms, the Sox made the venerable lefty labor from the jump. Chase Meidroth started the Chicago attack with a single, moved to second when Luis Robert Jr. walked, then scored on a Quero double two batters later. Robert was cut down at the plate trying to make it two runs on an aggressive send by Justin Jirschele, but the Sox regained that run when Meidroth hit the third single over four batters to drive in Bobby Dalbec an inning later.
Valdez found his footing afterward, but just when it looked like he was going to close out five decent innings, Robert smoked a solo shot to right field with two outs, and it turned out to be a rally-starting homer. Miguel Vargas kept the inning alive with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Quero's single to make it a 4-1 game.
"The position that I'm hitting right now, hitting fourth, when I got guys on base, I try to hit the ball," Quero said. "Especially with Robert on base I don't try to do too much because he's fast. If I get a base hit, he's on second, he's going to score easy."
Jonathan Cannon didn't have the easiest night himself, but he somehow pitched around a pair of second-inning errors en route to six quality innings and his second consecutive winning decision.
"I sat here and told you guys a couple of weeks ago, the stuff was there," Cannon said. "It was just about limiting the free passes and really just attacking guys. No walks today, limiting the free passes and that allows those singles just to be singles and now you have the chance to get out of it rather than a run coming around to score."
After Isaac Paredes opened the second with a single, Christian Walker hit a bouncer to third. Vargas made a tricky pick, but he rushed the throw and pulled Dalbec off the bag for two on and nobody out. Cannon followed by striking out Diaz on three pitches, and then Brendan Rodgers hit his first pitch to Meidroth at short. The play developed too slowly for a sure double play, and Sosa succumbed to the pressure of his internal clock when he dropped Meidroth's throw before it could even be said he fumbled the exchange. That loaded the bases with one out, but Cannon jammed Cam Smith into a weak flareout to second, and then got Jake Meyers to ground into a successful 6-4 force to end the inning with five outs and no runs scored.
Cannon eventually started yielding hits in bunches, but his defense shored up in time to mitigate the damage. A pair of one-out doubles amounted to a run in the fourth, but two inning-starting singles in the fifth were stranded. Cannon couldn't do the same to a pair of one-out singles in the sixth, but although Meyers singled home one run with a base hit to left, Baldwin hit the cutoff man Vargas, who redirected the play to second to catch Rodgers, who seemed to expect a White Sox outfielder to airmail that throw.
Bullet points:
*Cannon threw his sinker (25), changeup (24) and cutter (24) in equal amounts, but the four-seam fastball also worked, generating four whiffs on six swings.
*Vargas also atoned for his error with a strong play behind third base to retire Peña leading off the seventh.
*Booser's leadoff walk in the ninth inning was the only one issued by White Sox pitchers all evening.
*Quero had another great game, going 2-for-3 a double, a walk and two RBIs, and he also cut down Jose Altuve at second base in the first inning.
"I have nothing but great things to say about Q," Cannon said. "I think that every single time he goes out there he improves his pitch-calling, everything, his setup. And then he throws Altuve out at second base, that was a huge moment in the game. He's an unbelievable player. We're all seeing what he can do at the plate. But behind the scenes his catching has gotten so much better."
*Robert drew two more walks, giving him 19 in 30 games. He drew 28 in 100 games last year.
"That's what you work for, right? To get the results," Robert said via interpreter. "I've been feeling pretty good, better in the last couple weeks. But I've been feeling pretty good the whole season."
