White Sox 8, Athletics 7: South Siders salvage a win

The Chicago White Sox grabbed a much-needed win against the Oakland Athletics to avoid a sweep at the hands of the worst team in baseball, 8-7. The game got a little close towards the end, but we’ll take a win any way we can get it.

First, let’s congratulate our very own Luis Robert Jr. on his first All-Star appearance, as he will head to Seattle as the lone White Sox rep after putting up terrific first-half numbers. It looks like he’s turning into the star that we all knew he could be.

As for the game, this was another wild one out in Oakland. Touki Toussaint started against Paul Blackburn in a bullpen day for the South Siders, and the White Sox got on the board early. After a wasted opportunity in the first inning with runners on second and third, the team redeemed itself in the top of the third inning, and it all started with the leadoff walk to Seby Zavala. Andrew Benintendi singled to put runners on the corners, and Tim Anderson drove in the first run of the ballgame with a sacrifice fly to score Zavala.

Eloy Jimenez had an RBI single with two outs to keep the scoring going.

Andrew Vaughn and Jake Burger reached base to load them up, and Gavin Sheets had an RBI ... hit by pitch. A run is a run, right?

Zach Remillard continued his hot streak by extending the lead to 5-0 on a two-run single that deflected off of two Athletics and into the outfield. Sometimes you just need a little luck on your side.

Toussaint continued into the third inning but got into a bit of trouble as he allowed back-to-back base runners to start the inning. Tony Kemp then drove a run in on an RBI single, followed by a walk and hit-by-pitch to load the bases. Seth Brown induced the walk to score a run and cut the deficit to 5-2. Toussaint was replaced in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs, as Aaron Bummer would come in for some early relief.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Athletics inched closer after a Ryan Noda leadoff single and J.J. Bleday double to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Blackburn was removed to start the sixth inning and replaced by Richard Lovelady. Remillard started off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a fielding error, and Benintendi drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

Jiménez had another RBI single with two outs to extend the lead to 7-3.

Jake Burger added some insurance in the top of the seventh with his 18th home run of the season. After Jake’s extended slump, a Burger Bomb was due.

Now with a comfortable 8-3 lead going into the eighth, what could go wrong? Bryan Shaw came in to start the eighth inning after being welcomed to the team just today, and a two-out double by Shea Langeliers led to a Brent Rooker two-run home run to cut the lead to 8-5.

Gregory Santos came in for the save in the bottom of the ninth inning and allowed a one-out single to Kemp. The Athletics had a little two-out rally fun after that, as Bleday doubled to score Kemp and cut the lead to 8-6. The next batter, Seth Brown, singled to right field as Clint Frazier slipped when trying to get to the ball, so that scored another run, 8-7. Knowing our luck, something bad would happen next, but it didn’t: Jace Peterson lined out to Frazier to end the game. This time he slipped after catching the ball, so it’s ... fine.

The team will have an off-day tomorrow as they head home to start a series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. It will be Lucas Giolito against Chris Bassitt at 7:10 p.m. CT. Everyone have a good rest of your weekend and enjoy a day tomorrow of reduced stress, with no White Sox baseball!

Six Pack of Stats

By Brett Ballantini

FanGraphs

Pressure Play
It might tick us off because we are due for an easy win, but writing dispassionately, it’s hard to argue with a game that packs the top game leverage into the very last out. So Gregory Santos passing the test by inducing a fly out from Jace Peterson with the tying run on first, weighed down by 3.27 LI, takes the prize.

Pressure Cooker
On the strength of the play above, as part of an 0-for-5 day overall, Jace Peterson was choked by the biggest game pressure, at 1.80 pLI. Aaron Bummer (1.27) and Santos (1.24) topped the pressure chart for the White Sox.

Top Play
The White Sox had four of the five biggest WPA plays in the game, but for the second straight game it was JJ Bleday bringing the numbers, with his .138 WPA RBI double in the bottom of the fifth. Tops for the Sox was, oddly, Andrew Benintendi’s .109 WPA single in the third that put runners on the corners and set up the first Chicago score of the game.

Top Performer
And just like yesterday, JJ Bleday gets today’s game crown, with a .185 WPA. Tops for the Sox were Benintendi (.119 WPA) and Zach Remillard (.110).

Hardest Hit
Brent Rooker’s home run off of Bryan Shaw in the eighth was smoked at 111.2 mph. Jake Burger was right behind him, with a 110.3 mph single in the fifth and a 108.7 mph homer in the seventh.

Weakest Contact
Tim Anderson grounded out to first in the fourth inning, pushed at just 60.8 mph.

Luckiest Hit
Shea Langeliers dinked a double over first base in the eighth inning, and that flare carried a .130 xBA. For the White Sox, the good fortune came to Zach Remillard’s third-inning, .190 xBA single.

Toughest Out
Zach Remillard got it both ways today, grounding into a 6-4-3 double play that had a .650 xBA toe tag.

Longest Hit
Jake Burger’s revenge: his 442-foot homer flew one foot longer than Rooker’s today.

Magic Number: 10
The White Sox narrowly avoided turning this into 11 today, but Mark Liptak provided a magic number yesterday of 10 times the White Sox lost games in which they had a lead in the seventh inning or later already this year by the White Sox, including four times by Joe Kelly alone.