I guess you can say the White Sox refused to go down without a fight, but the Red Sox wouldn’t die. In a 13-inning game that lasted more than four hours, the White Sox fell short in the finale in Boston, falling victim to a late-night sweep.
Luis Castillo debuted with a much-needed nine-pitch inning and kept the Red Sox quiet again in the second. Ranger Suárez plunked Joey Bart in the second, but that was the only baserunner for the White Sox through two innings.
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Suárez went well over the 30-pitch mark in the third inning, with the bullpen up and warming by the end of his frame after 70 total pitches. His nightmare inning started with a walk to Braden Montgomery and a two-run homer well over the Monster by former Red Sox minor leaguer Chase Meidroth.
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With two outs, Suárez picked up a pitch clock violation to walk Miguel Vargas. Randal Grichuk and Colson Montgomery had back-to-back singles. Colson’s knock sent both Vargas and Grichuk home, with Grichuk scoring on a throwing error by center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Bart would end the inning, but the White Sox had exhausted Suárez and taken a 4-0 lead.
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The Red Sox answered in the bottom of the third. With one out, Anthony Seigler walked and came home on a Connor Wong home run. Nick Sogard singled, but Rafaela grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, preventing further damage.
Greg Weissert replaced Suárez for the fourth inning and quickly gave up a single to Brenton Doyle, who then stole second. Doyle got to third when Wong couldn’t squeeze the pitch after Braden struck out. Doyle started the frame by beating out the throw to first, then winning a challenge after stealing second. Moments later, pinch-hitter Sam Antonacci drove in Doyle with a double. Meidroth picked up a walk with Munetaka Murakami looming, prompting another meeting at the mound. Weissert would luck out by striking out both Murakami and Vargas. Thankfully, though, a lead was still intact at 5-2.
Castillo ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth, surrendering three straight hits. Andruw Monasterio doubled, sending Caleb Durbin home. Then Seigler doubled, tying the game.
Andrew Benintendi and Colson started the fifth with back-to-back singles. With two outs, Braden singled, beating out the throw and then getting to second as a plethora of bad throws sent two runs in, making it 7-5, Good Guys.
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Bryan Hudson came on to replace Castillo. Rafaela singled with one out, and Wilyer Abreu struck out right after. Rafaela tried to steal second, but Bart threw a dart to second, and Meidroth tagged him out when he stepped off the base, ending the threat and the inning.
Jordan Hicks gave up back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the sixth, allowing another Red Sox run to score. Grant Taylor came in for the final out and shut the Red Sox down.
For the second time in the game, Bart was hit by a pitch with two outs in the seventh. Unfortunately, the newly acquired catcher left the game with a trainer after taking the hit. It was all in vain via a failed bunt from Tristan Peters. Taylor stayed in for the seventh and put two straight batters aboard, one on a walk and the other on a hit-by-pitch. The righthander somehow escaped the jam with a strikeout, keeping the game within one run.
During the eighth inning, the broadcast announced that Bart suffered a fracture in his fifth metacarpal, so see you again soon, Edgar Quero. Two runners got on base, but the White Sox failed to make anything happen. With two outs in the bottom half, Jarren Duran reached on a throwing error. Seigler singled to put two on, driving Taylor out of the game. After an overturned challenge, Drew Romo managed to catch Duran stealing third for a massive out to end the inning.
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With the game on the line, Colson picked up a one-out walk and was rewarded second after a balk. Peters picked up the second free pass of the frame with two outs, but Braden hit the ball right to second on the first pitch. Huascar Brazobán stayed in the game to pitch for the bottom of the ninth after coming in for the last batter in the eighth. Wong started the inning with a double and advanced to third on a sac bunt from Sogard. Two outs and two strikes later, the Red Sox tied up the game with a single from Abreu. Will Venable challenged another safe call, and it was overturned, sending the already-stressful game into extras.
Known terrible person Aroldis Chapman gave up a beautiful home run to Meidroth in the top of the tenth, his second two-run homer of the night.
Trent Richards, on for the bottom half, issued a walk to Masataka Yoshida and an RBI double to Monasterio to put the game within one run with only one out. Duran was intentionally walked to load the bases as the bullpen started moving. Seigler’s sac fly sent another run in to tie it 9-9 with two runners still on base. Richards walked yet another hitter to load the bases, but Sogard hit into force out.
With a wild throw and a sac fly, the White Sox reclaimed the lead in the 11th. Rafaela started the bottom half of the inning with a single, and Abreu would tie the game once more at 10-10. Richards walked yet another batter, putting two runners on base with only one out. Jahmai Jones singled to load the bases, putting five players in the infield for the White Sox. A fly out from Monasterio kept the bases loaded, and Richards was finally pulled from the game. Duran ended the inning with a fly out.
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Once again, the White Sox took the lead, now in the 12th. Peters singled, and with one out, Antonacci singled to send the ghost runner Romo home. Meidroth snuck one under the glove, prompting Justin Jirschele to send Braden home, but he was thrown out. Murakami was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs, and Vargas hit into a force out. A sac fly from Rogers tied the game for the fifth time, as we’re in hour four of this game.
The Good Guys couldn’t get it done in the top of the 13th. Erick Fedde came out to try and hold the tie, but four-plus hours of torture finally ended when Durbin walked it off with a single, handing the White Sox a 12-11 loss and a sweep.
MVP
Chase Meidroth — 3-for-5, 2 R, 3 H, 4 RBI, 2 BB, E
Runners-Up
Colson Montgomery — 2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, BB, K, SF
Sam Antonacci — 3-for-5, 2 RBI, 2B
Cold Cat
Munetaka Murakami — 0-for-6, 1 BB, 3 K
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