Blue Jays 6, White Sox 2: Toronto Rallies Late to Spoil Lynn’s Masterpiece

The White Sox looked to build on their strong week, entering with four wins in their last five games. Unfortunately, tonight was not their night, as the Blue Jays took advantage of spotty defense to pull away against the bullpen, 6-2.

The White Sox benefited from some good fortune in the first inning, as Jake Lamb reached on an error by first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Lamb then advanced to second on a passed ball, so Yoán Moncada had an opportunity with a runner on second and one out. Moncada, who is having an All-Star caliber season, delivered again, giving the White Sox an early lead with a single.

However, the lead did not last long, as Randal Grichuk hit his 13th home run of the season to lead off the second. Grichuk, a former teammate of White Sox starter Lance Lynn, is off to a great start this season (123 wRC+, his highest since 2015).

The White Sox nearly retook the lead, and they likely should have if not for a questionable call at the plate. After Yasmani Grandal drew a one-out walk (of course he walked), he found himself at second base after a soft ground out by Eaton. With two outs, Andrew Vaughn, yesterday’s MVP, lined a sharp single to left. It was a close play at the plate, but umpire Erich Bacchus called Grandal out. The White Sox challenged, which seemed to reveal that Grandal beat the tag, but the call stood after review.

The White Sox did, however, get that elusive second run in the fifth inning. After a survival swing to stay alive on a 3-2 pitch, Leury García drew a dreaded, leadoff walk. Then, Nick Madrigal stepped up to the plate and took a pitch that was nowhere close but was called a strike anyway. Despite this, Madrigal worked the count to 2-1 before launching an RBI double to center. García scored easily, and the White Sox led by a score of 2-1.

Meanwhile, Lynn had another phenomenal performance. Though the White Sox could not add any insurance runs, Lynn preserved the lead for the remainder of his time on the mound. Lynn’s final line was seven innings, one run, four hits, no walks, nine strikeouts, and as usual, a lot of energy after inning-ending strikeouts.

Though there was a great Madrigal moment, there was also a bad one. Madrigal hit a soft grounder to third, and he hustled to try to earn an infield single, but he was narrowly out at first. The worse news, however, was that Madrigal was slow to get up and could not remain in the game.

Let’s hope the injury is not as serious as is appeared to be.

As the game approached the eighth inning, the focus shifted from Lynn to the bullpen. Unfortunately, it was not the bullpen’s night, though the relievers did not get much help from the defense.

Aaron Bummer’s outing started out smoothly, but it did not end out that way. Bummer got Rowdy Tellez to pop out, and he struck out rookie Riley Adams, but Grandal could not block strike three, so Adams reached first. Then, Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette hit back-to-back singles to load the bases with only one out, and Vlad Jr. stepped up to the plate. Guerrero drew a five-pitch walk to tie the game, and the White Sox were officially on the ropes.

Codi Heuer entered the game, and he inherited a difficult situation. Heuer fell behind in the count 3-0 to Teoscar Hernández, which made his job tougher. Fortunately, Hernández hit a ground ball that could have resulted in a double play; unfortunately, a throwing error by Tim Anderson caused the White Sox to only get one out, and two Blue Jays scored on the play. Heuer and the White Sox escaped without any more insurance runs scoring, but the damage was done, as the Blue Jays had a 4-2 lead.

Matt Foster entered the game in the ninth, which hardly went any better than the eighth. Foster, who had not made any appearances since a scoreless inning on May 27, gave up a leadoff double to Joe Panik. Panik came around to score when Tellez singled to right, and Adam Eaton airmailed a throw to the plate. The Blue Jays scored the last run of the game on another force out that could have been a double play. This time, the error was charged to José Abreu, who could not handle a throw from Danny Mendick that was a bit too high. As a result, the Blue Jays took a 6-2 lead, and they went on to win by that score.

The tough loss dropped the White Sox to 37-24, while Toronto improved to 31-28. The good news is that Cleveland also lost, dropping them to 32-27 and keeping them four games behind the South Siders in the AL Central race.

Sam Sherman will have your game coverage tomorrow at South Side Sox, with the human winning streak Chrystal O’Keefe on the Six Pack. That game will also start at 7:10 p.m. CST. NBC Sports Chicago will be your source for TV coverage, and WMVP 1000 AM and WRTO 1200 AM will have the radio coverage. Hopefully, it goes better than it did tonight.