Chicago White Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa was in position to field Christian Koss’ bouncer back up the middle in the sixth inning on Friday.
But instead of an inning-ending double play, the ball bounced off the front of the bag and skipped over Sosa’s head.
Advertisement
“Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce your way, sometimes it does,” manager Will Venable said. “That was a tough play. Just (a) tough break. But got to work around those and just weren’t able to.”
That extended the inning for Patrick Bailey, whose slicer bounced by diving right fielder Ryan Noda and rolled to the wall for a tie-breaking two-run triple.
“Probably have to play that in front,” Venable said. “Good aggressive play, you like the thought. Just as a play, you play in front and minimize the damage.”
The bounces didn’t go the Sox’s way in a 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants in front of 27,549 in attendance for the game and the Flo Rida concert that followed at Rate Field.
Advertisement
The Sox had plenty of chances, but finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position while dropping the opener of the three-game series.
“We go out there and compete — just men in scoring position, we couldn’t drive the run in,” Sox first baseman Miguel Vargas said. “That’s something we need to be better at.
“It’s very frustrating. We did a great job today at the plate. Not able to drive a couple of runs when we have bases loaded is a little tough.”
The Sox displayed some aggressiveness on the bases for the game’s first run.
Chase Meidroth was on second base when Vargas hit a scorcher that deflected off the glove of shortstop Willy Adames — ruled an error — and rolled into left field.
Advertisement
Meidroth initially retreated to second, but turned around and raced to third. Third-base coach Justin Jirschele waved him home and Meidroth scored ahead of the relay throw by the third baseman Koss.
The Giants took advantage of Sox starter Aaron Civale’s wildness to tie the score in the third. Civale walked Bailey to begin the inning. With one out, he walked Rafael Devers. Wilmer Flores followed with an RBI double.
Civale allowed the one run on three hits with four strikeouts and four walks in four innings.
“Just not crisp, usually a guy that leans on his command,” Venable said. “I don’t think he had it. Kind of grinding there, did a good job of working around some walks the best he could. At the end of the day, the four innings were a pretty good grind for him.”
Advertisement
Civale threw 80 pitches.
“Just went out there and competed,” Civale said. “Definitely not the cleanest. I think it was 40 balls and 40 strikes, which is never something you want as a starter. But while I was out there, just did my best to compete and keep the game close.”
Related Articles
The Sox had opportunities to reclaim the lead in the fourth and fifth innings, but came up empty.
They loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, but Michael A. Taylor grounded into a double play. They loaded the bases again in the fifth with one out. Kyle Teel struck out and Sosa popped out to Adames.
Advertisement
“We had a bunch of traffic, had the bases loaded twice with less than two outs and just didn’t find any outfield grass,” Venable said. “(Giants starter Landen Roupp) does a good job of putting the ball in the ground with the sinker. We just weren’t able to push them across.”
Adames played a role in the decisive sixth, drawing a leadoff walk against reliever Tyler Alexander. With one out, Koss hit the bouncer that bounced off second, then skipped over Sosa’s head to give the Giants runners on first and second. Bailey’s two-run triple that got past Noda, who has largely played first base in the majors, put the Giants ahead 3-1.
The Giants went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. That was just enough to top the Sox.
“We did a lot of things really well tonight, obviously at the plate just got to find a way to drive a couple across,” Venable said. “But some really good at-bats, good stuff leading up to those moments. Just got to keep grinding.”
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
