Blue Jays 5, White Sox 4: Bluebirds soar while South Siders free-fall

The Good Guys were hoping to avoid the doubleheader and three-game sweep, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. They did manage to generate some offense in the finale to make the game somewhat entertaining, even if the outcome was pretty much hopeless, as the Toronto Blue Jays bashed the Chicago White Sox pitchers for 16 hits. The team ends up 0-6 against the Blue Jays on the season.

The first inning came and went rather quietly for both squads. However, the Toronto bats came to life in the top of the second. Matt Chapman led off with a double but was quickly erased on a rocket throw from Oscar Colás when Chapman tried to go to third on a Daulton Varsho fly out. That play proved to loom large as the next batter, Whit Merrifield, launched a solo shot to left center field. Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio followed with back-to-back singles, but the threat ended when Santiago Espinal flew out to right.

The South Siders came thundering back to take the lead 3-1 in the bottom of the third. Seby Zavala led off with a single but was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a double by Andrew Benintendi. Tim Anderson followed with a single, driving home Benny. After Luis Robert Jr. struck out swinging, Eloy Jiménez knocked a two-run bomb to right field, his 12th of the season.

FanGraphs

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Pressure Play
Eloy Jiménez grounded out in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and Luis Robert Jr. on second, earning him a 3.49 LI. 

Pressure Cooker
Nate Pearson felt the pressure with a 2.50 pLI when he came in for the bottom of the ninth, looking for his first save of the season. He retired all three Sox hitters in order, despite Jake Burger hitting a 104.3 mph fly out. 

Top Play
The Big Baby’s mashed tater in the bottom of the third secured him a hardy .217 WPA. 

Top Performer
Whit Merrifield was 2-for-4 with two home runs, and his 24% WPA won him today’s blue ribbon. 

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Hardest Hit
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushed a fifth-inning single at 111.6 mph that scored George Springer and tied the game at 3-3. 

Weakest Contact
Bo Bichette’s third-inning single was lofted softly, at 36.2 mph. 

Luckiest Hit
Matt Chapman’s fourth-inning long ball only had a .080 xBA. Maybe he had a rabbit’s foot in his pocket. 

Toughest Out 
Springer’s line out in the top of the third to Robert had a .860 xBA.

Longest Hit
I sure wish we had a Merrifield on our team. He had the farthest hit of the night with his 397-foot, second-inning blast. 

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Magic Number: 8
Per Chris Kamka, eight times this season White Sox pitchers, as a staff, have struck out 14 or more batters in a game.

The White Sox have lost all eight of those games.

Toronto quickly countered and snatched one run back in the top of the fourth when Chapman hit a no-doubter homer to left field, cutting the Sox lead to 3-2. Then, the Jays pushed Jesse Scholtens out of the game in the top of the fifth after consecutive singles by George Springer, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. tied the game, 3-3. Bryan Shaw, who had already pitched in the opener, came on in relief with two on and nobody out and got Chapman to hit into a double play and Varsho to ground out to end the frame and limit the damage.

The scoring in this game felt a bit like a ping-pong match. In the bottom of the fifth, the Pale Hose took back the lead, 4-3, when Anderson hit into a double play that scored Zavala, who had doubled to lead off the inning. But, of course, the Bluebirds would swoop in and knot it up in the top of the sixth with another Merrifield dinger. Finally, the Jays went ahead for good, 5-4, in the top of the seventh when Bichette scored on a Guerrero double.

Next up, it’s bad baseball vs. bad baseball, as the last-place St. Louis Cardinals roll into town for a three-game set over the weekend. It should be nice weather-wise to head out to the old ballpark, and you might actually have a chance to see a winner.