The White Sox couldn’t plate base runners as they fell once again to the Pirates. Pittsburgh has pillaged the South Siders’ pitching in two games so far, as Davis Martin made his second start since coming off the injured list. Martin went through five innings and dueled a Pittsburgh bullpen that held the game at zeros until Martin conceded a solo-shot in the fifth.
Chicago’s bats continued their struggles early in games as they struck out and left runners aboard, as missed opportunities haunted them. In both the 7th and 8th, the Sox hit into inning-ending double plays with the bases loaded. Chase Meidroth‘s line out in the eighth personifies this feeling of late—just a run of bad luck as we head toward the end.
The Pirates posted four unanswered as, following the solo homer in the fifth, they scored more in the seventh to put themselves up 4-0. Chicago finally woke up as Sam Antonacci singled home a run, but three runners were stranded between that and Munetaka Murakami‘s round trip in the eighth. Murakami has been in a slump as of late and it’s hopefully a good sign to see him dominate once more.
Cleveland looms only two games back, but was defeated in Baltimore today. For as much bad luck as the Sox saw hitting today, the last few weeks have been very lucky in the divisional race as the Orioles did Chicago a favor with the series win.
Box Score
Hitting:
Pitching:
Scoring Summary
Top 5th
- Esmerlyn Valdez homers on a fly ball to right field. Pirates lead 1-0
Top 7th
- Rafael Flores Jr. singles on a line drive to center fielder Tristan Peters. Billy Cook scores. Pirates lead 2-0
- Konnor Griffin singles on a line drive to center fielder Tristan Peters. Spencer Horowitz scores. Ronny Simon scores. Pirates lead 4-0.
Bottom 7th
- Sam Antonacci singles on a sharp ground ball to first baseman Spencer Horowitz. Braden Montgomery scores. Pirates lead 4-1.
Bottom 8th
- Munetaka Murakami homers on a fly ball to right field. Pirates lead 4-2.
Key Performers
Davis Martin (SP): 5.0 IP, ER, 4 H, 2 BB, K
Martin got some help from his defense but, overall, recorded a solid five innings. Longer outings are certainly the goal but its good to see the version of him that can keep bats down. He conceded only one solo homer on the evening.
Munetaka Murakami (1B): 1-for-3, HR, RBI, 2 K, HBP
Murakami needs to get things going if this offense is going to stay afloat toward October. They have time to right the ship and tonight’s homer is, at long last, another occurrence of punishing a mistake from a pitcher.
Sam Antonacci (2B): 1-for-5, RBI, K
After winning the White Sox’s Heart & Hustle award pre-game, Antonacci had an RBI then got into it with Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe after some brief contact. You can see this guy give the squad life every day, as he’s the ultimate pest on top of being an ultimate tool to have as a 2B/LF combo.
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Featured Image: Chicago White Sox / X
