If Trayce Thompson keeps hitting .522, the White Sox should be in good shape.
Batting in the fifth spot against lefty Wade Miley, Thompson came up a homer short of the cycle, and his hits counted. He delivered a game-tying single in the fourth inning, and the go-ahead two-run double in the seventh to complete the comeback the Sox couldn't quite pull off on Monday. In the process, he hiked his average over .500.
Granted, it wasn't a perfect night for Thompson, who was cut down between third and home after his triple to keep the White Sox off the board (it might've been a contact play with one out). But that was only the first of two baserunning mistakes on the inning -- Geovany Soto was caught between second and third on Carlos Sanchez's two-out RBI single -- setting the tone for a pretty ragged night of baseball between two under-.500 teams, which might explain how this series has been an exchange of 5-4 scores so far.
The White Sox made the biggest goof of the night, as Jose Quintana saw a 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 deficit with two outs in the third inning courtesy of a Mookie Betts Little League home run. Betts scored Josh Rutledge on a triple -- a good relay throw might've gotten him, but it was well to the third base dugout, and it glanced off Geovany Soto's mitt. Quintana backed up Soto like he should, but Soto didn't see him and pursued the ball himself. That left home plate open, and Betts scored standing for the glaring error.
After Thompson tied the game at 2 in the fourth, the Red Sox took a 4-2 lead by their own volition two innings later on a Pablo Sandoval RBI double. He then scored on a single and a grounder to second that was too slow for a 4-6-3, and Boston held the first multi-run lead for either team.
But the White Sox stormed back, thanks in part to a couple of favors by their carmine counterparts. First, Torey Luvullo left Wade Miley in for the fourth time through the lineup, and he ended up giving up three runs in the seventh. One scored on a Melky Cabrera RBI single, and two more scored because Hanley Ramirez couldn't cut off Thompson's RBI double to left, which allowed Avisail Garcia to score all the way from first for the decisive run.
The White Sox bullpen kept it professional. Jake Petricka picked up the win with a scoreless seventh, Zach Duke struck out the side in the eighth, and David Robertson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two K's for his 26th save.
Bullet points:
*Quintana pitched better than his line indicated, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and zero walks over six innings. He struck out six, and did a nice job of keeping the Red Sox from doing more damage. He earned the good kind of no-decision.
*Sanchez was thrown out at third by Jackie Bradley Jr. on a hit-and-run in the eighth for the third baserunning out of the night. That was just a great throw by Bradley, as it would've been a very late stop sign for Sanchez heading around second.
*Jose Abreu killed a rally by grounding into a 5-3 double play on a half-swing on a pitch that bounced, which is something. He also booted a grounder, so it wasn't his finest work, either.
Record: 59-65 | Box score | Play-by-play | Highlights