Brewers 7, White Sox 3: Sunday scaries... again

The Chicago White Sox have lost three in a row, as the Milwaukee Brewers beat them, 7-3, this afternoon to secure the sweep. The last two games had been frustrating and close losses, but this one was just a blowout and a complete letdown.

Dylan Cease started today and let up a run in the top of the second inning after back-to-back singles from Sal Frelick and Willy Adames led to a Mark Canha sacrifice fly. Still, 1-0 wasn’t a bad beginning.

Cease also had this smooth play in the fourth inning to show off some athleticism.

Neither team scored again until the top of the fifth inning, when Adames led off the inning with a walk and Cahna singled to put runners on second and third. Andruw Monasterio doubled to score Adames and extend the lead to 2-0. With runners now on second and third and nobody out, Cease had a bit of a problem. Luckily, he was able to get out of it impressively, without allowing any more runs, to keep the South Siders in the game. If only Cease’s offense could actually score some runs.

Freddy Peralta rolled through the White Sox lineup. He allowed three walks and battled some control issues, but the anemic Chicago offense wasn’t able to do anything with that.

Cease went seven innings with five hits, two runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts in a solid outing.

Aaron Bummer would take over to start the top of the eighth inning, and that is where the unravel started. Christian Yelich and William Contreras had back-to-back walks, and then Carlos Santana had the dagger, AKA a three-run home run to extend the lead to 5-0 — all before Bummer recorded an out. Surprisingly, that was the first home run Bummer allowed all year.

Brent Honeywell finished off the eighth and Declan Cronin started the top of the ninth inning. Cronin immediately had a hit-by-pitch, a walk, and another hit-by-pitch to load the bases with no outs. Yelich singled to score two runs and extend the lead to a blowout score of 7-0. That’s usually what happens when you trade half of your bullpen.

As the bottom of the ninth inning got underway, two major ninth-inning comebacks were also happening elsewhere in baseball, but the White Sox could only chime in with a little, fake rally. J.C. Mejia was in to pitch for the Brewers, and Andrew Vaughn led off the inning with a single. With two outs, Carlos Pérez had a double in the gap to put the team on the board, 7-1. Yay!

Zach Remillard reached on a slow roller to Mejia, and Pérez advanced to third. Remillard eventually reached second base, and Elvis Andrus singled up the middle to score them both.

Andrew Benintendi lined out to Monasterio to end the game and fake rally before it got any closer and offer any false hope. The White Sox record drops to 47-72, 25 games under .500. It seems to get worse and worse every day.

Overall, the Brewers showed why they are a first-place team. Their bullpen shut us down except for the ninth inning of this game, and the typical Sunday Scaries lineup didn’t produce much, which is usually what happens when Pedro Grifol decides to roll it out every Sunday afternoon.

The White Sox have another off-day tomorrow before going to the North Side for what should be a big series against the Chicago Cubs, (not for us, but just because the Cubs are fighting for a playoff spot). Let’s hope we can at least win one game at Wrigley Field or we will not stop hearing about it. Everyone enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Six Pack of Stats

By Melissa Sage-Bollenbach

FanGraphs

Pressure Play
The game was still within reach when Zach Remillard struck out in the bottom of the seventh with Carlos Pérez on first and no outs, earning him a 2.66 LI.

Pressure Cooker
Abner Uribe beat the heat and a 2.09 pLI despite surrendering a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh. He earned the hold today after getting Remillard to strikeout and Elvis Andrus to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Top Play
Andruw Monasterio smashed a 12.6% WPA double in the top of the fifth that dropped down the left field line, scoring Willy Adames and moving Mark Canha to third, increasing the Brewers lead to 2-0.

Top Performer
Freddy Peralta was outstanding today; his whopping 36.6% WPA was proof of that. The righthander scored the W and went six innings, surrendering no runs on only four hits and three walks, striking out six.

Hardest Hit
Andrew Vaughn scalded a too-little, too-late single in the bottom of the ninth at 111.7 mph.

Weakest Contact
Carlos Santana tapped a first-inning ground out at 46.6 mph.

Luckiest Hit
Vaughn was a singles machine today, and his fourth-inning safety only had a .230 xBA.

Toughest Out
Canha’s ground out to Elvis in the top of the eight off Brent Honeywell had a .630 xBA.

Longest Hit
Santana knocked his eight-inning, three-run dinger off Aaron Bummer 398 feet over the center field wall.

Magic Number: 37
It has been 37 years since the White Sox were last swept by the Brewers at home. For all of you that have a math phobia, that makes the year 1986. A few of the players on those teams that you may recognize were Ozzie Guillén and Paul Molitor. Feel old yet?