White Sox romp late, 11-3
Let’s play the Rockies every game of the year!
OK, alright, this wasn’t a blowout all the way. Early on, it was a battle of blasts.
Jonathan Cannon found a middle ground between his terrific and awful performances the last two times out, giving up just three hits and a walk in 5 2⁄3 innings. But two of those three hits landed in bullpens, the first a 110 mph shot by Brendan Rogers that gave the Rockies a 1-0 lead in the second, the second a two-run job by Nolan Jones in the fifth.
Meanwhile, Cal Quantrill was cruising right along, allowing just two singles in the first four innings, but he ran out of gas in the hot, muggy weather in the fifth — or at least his pitches did. Quantrill starting hanging bunches of throws, leading to a Nicky Lopez double and then a Lenyn Sosa long ball that had just enough distance.
Tommy Pham added another double on a sinker that hung right over the middle, but Quantrill escaped and Bud Black got a chance to show White Sox managers aren’t the only brain-dead dugout bosses by leaving in his obviously exhausted starter for the sixth, to have his first pitch welcomed by Luis Robert Jr.
That little looper traveled 470 feet, the fifth-longest blast in MLB this season and the fifth-longest ever at Sox Park.
Did Black learn from that and remove his pitcher? No. Did he do so after Quantrill plunked Andrew Vaughn? Heck, no. Might as well let him suffer some more, as Paul DeJong came up:
That made it 5-3, and Black finally realized Quantrill was fried ... though, to be fair, what happened later might have been an indication why he was loath to go to the pen. Tanner Banks, Steven Wilson and Justin Anderson finished off the Rockies with no more runs, with Banks getting the win — but the Rockies relievers were rocky, indeed.
Nick Mears did fine, but Jalen Beeks served up batting practice, good for three hits and a walk, and then Riley Pint made his first major league appearance one to definitely forget, including the fourth Sox homer of the day, this one a three-run poke by Korey Lee
As long as we’re doing all-homer highlights, let’s go with it, too:
Pint kept ushering in runs, some on routine grounders with eyes, some on hilariously wild pitches, but he did K Robert for his first MLB strikeout, so the game wasn’t a total loss for him. Maybe.
The final was 11-3, the biggest offensive output by the White Sox this season, and the win was the third in a row. Andrew Benintendi was 0-for-5, but every other spot in the lineup had at least one hit, with Pham, Vaughn and DeJong each getting two (Gavin Sheets was 0-for-3, but Eloy Jiménez picked him up with a seeing-eye, pinch-hit grounder single).
With Garrett Crochet starting tomorrow against lefty Kyle Freeland and his 9.55 ERA, there would seem to be an excellent chance to sweep, and to match the season’s longest win streak at four.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2024 Record 24-61, worst 85-game start in White Sox history (3 1⁄2 games ahead of the next-worst, 1948 White Sox)
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -161, tied for 41st-worst 85-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 46-116 (.286)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 3 games behind
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 5 games behind
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 10 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 6 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 8 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season