Phillies 7, White Sox 4: One big inning was not enough

The Phillies (7-10) withstood a four-run inning by the White Sox (6-11) to hold on for a 7-4 victory to open the doubleheader at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Lance Lynn needed 35 pitches to make it through the top of the first inning, which went about as poorly as possible. Bryson Stott wasted no time extending his hitting streak to open the season. Stott singled as the first batter of the game to extend his streak to 17. Trea Turner flew out, but Kyle Schwarber, who is excellent against right-handed pitchers, drew a seven-pitch walk. That brought up Nick Castellanos, who hit an RBI single to drive in the first run of the game. Brandon Marsh added insult to injury with a perfect bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Star catcher J.T. Realmuto struck out, but Alec Bohm drove a 2-2 fastball to right for a two-run single. By the end of the inning, Philadelphia had a 3-0 lead.

The Phillies tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the third, when Castellanos led off with his second single of the day. Lynn got revenge on Marsh with a strikeout, but Realmuto singled, and Bohm walked to load the bases. A strikeout by Jake Cave was the second out, but old friend Josh Harrison came through in the clutch with a two-run single.

With the score 5-0, the White Sox put up a fight in the bottom half. The bottom of the third opened in quite an unexpected way, with the South Siders stringing six consecutive hits together. Lenyn Sosa, Elvis Andrus, and Andrew Benintendi singled to load the bases with no outs. Luis Robert Jr. lined a double to drive in the team’s first two runs. Andrew Vaughn continued the streak with another hit, and his single drove in two more. That made it 5-4, and it extended the streak to five consecutive hits. It appeared that the streak would end at five when Eloy Jiménez hit a high fly ball into short center (76.4 mph exit velocity, 43-degree launch angle, .080 expected batting average), but the ball found a gap between fielders. The White Sox were unable to get the tying run this inning, but they trimmed the deficit to one.

Lynn lasted 5 ¹⁄₃ innings in this one. All five runs he allowed were earned, and he allowed 10 hits, though all of those were singles. Lynn walked three and struck out seven, finishing with a pitch count of 107.

The score remained 5-4 until the top of the seventh, when Jimmy Lambert was on the mound. That inning, Lambert retired the first two Phillies, but Cave kept the inning alive with a single. Then, Harrison drove a two-run homer to get Philadelphia’s lead back to three. That home run was the only extra-base hit for the Phillies, who also had 13 singles.

The White Sox got strong relief appearances from Gregory Santos and Jake Diekman, but it was too little, too late. The offense struggled immensely down the stretch, as Philadelphia pitching retired the last 13 batters. As a result, the Phillies hung on for a 7-4 victory.