Things started off pretty well for the White Sox on Tuesday, going up 3-0 before — in a photo negative of all the things Chicago did well in Monday’s win — seeing the Minnesota Twins score 14 of the final 15 runs in a 14-4 washout.
The key play tonight was a two-out error, with the game tied, 3-3, in the fifth. Instead of getting out of the inning on a pardon-me comebacker tap in front of the plate from Max Kepler, we got, er, this:
Postgame, manager Ricky Renteria threw Welington Castillo under the bus in his assessment of the play:
Cool. Thank goodness "Wely" is in the majors, making bush league mistakes, instead of ... bush leaguers who may still have a chance to learn from them. https://t.co/zdbyXACYXm
— Brett Ballantini (@BrettBallantini) August 21, 2019
Like in most things White Sox (who fell to 20 1⁄2 games behind the Twins with tonight’s loss) in 2019, there was fault around on this one. That said, suckup alert, I’m team Brett on this one. Yeah, a better throw from Castillo would have been nice, and the ball could have entered a brief blind spot for José Abreu as a result, but, c’mon. In the words of Jason Benetti, “Wow.”
It wasn’t all bad. Tim Anderson had two more hits, his 13th homer and 23rd double. Abreu homered again. Jace Fry was the only clean pitcher of the night, with a K in a smooth seventh inning.
But the bad, it was horrible. Chicago pitching surrendered 10 extra-base hits (Nelson Cruz had three doubles and a homer). Kelvin Herrera and Hector Santiago pitched the eighth and final inning for the White Sox and surrendered seven hits and seven earned. In addition to the jinckety throw in the fifth, Castillo was 0-for-3 with three Ks.
The best (worst?) thing about tonight is that the White Sox strap the stirrups back on tomorrow afternoon, with ace Lucas Giolito hoping to sneak out of Minny with a series win. Game time is 12:10 p.m., so don’t sleep in, folks.