Seriously what is even left to be said at this point? The White Sox were spotted SIX UNEARNED RUNS IN THE FIRST INNING! The South Siders were up, 8-2, going into the fifth with a starter on a low pitch count. How hard is it to simply not completely blow the game from that point? I get the offense didn’t have a pulse after the third inning but how many runs do you possibly need?
Tonight’s collapse, culminating in a five-run eighth inning by Detroit that turned things around to the eventual 11-8 final, was gutting. All the White Sox needed to do was not completely flame out — but that’s exactly what happened. I know nobody expected these guys to be here, competing for the AL’s No. 2 seed in the last two weeks of the season, but that doesn’t make this embarrassment OK in the slightest.
This team had a pitching problem as big as any in the league, and GM Chris Getz failing to see where the arms were heading in the stretch resulted in an underwhelming trade deadline, where prospect hoarding or simple hubris prevented Chicago from adding anything more than Luis Castillo (embroiled in the first horrible season of his career) to the rotation. Everybody in the league could see it was a cause of concern. The failures of the whole bunch brought in at the start of August, including Castillo, Huascar Brazobán and Brenton Doyle, has seemed ton infect the rest of the roster.
The worst thing about a game like tonight is that it was all so avoidable. You can’t tell me there isn’t a pitcher in Charlotte who can’t be a better starter than Castillo, who gives up six runs every three innings. You can’t tell me there isn’t a reliever that can handle more than one clean inning in a row.
Actually, the worst thing about a game like tonight is Tristan Peters’ injury, which will reduce him to day-to-day at best. But knowing the White Sox, rather than ending Peters’ regular season by shelving him and calling up Rikuu Nishida or another specific-skill(s) player to be ready on the bench, the club will play hamstrung for at least the rest of this Detroit series:
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Suddenly, a team with the luckiest path to the ALCS in recent memory is now looking down the barrel at possibly missing the playoffs entirely. The only question is whether or not the White Sox have anything left in the tank.
The sun will rise again tomorrow — and Mother Nature offered a gift by rolling in night rain that has pushed tomorrow’s game up to 1:10 p.m. — but will the White Sox? Only time will tell.
MVP
Colson Montgomery: 2-for-4, 3 RBI, R, 2 K
Runners-Up
Miguel Vargas: 2-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, R, K
Hagen Smith: 1 IP, BB, 3 K
Cold Cat
Sean Newcomb and Bryan Hudson: 1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, BB
Runners-Up
Chris Murphy: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, K
David Sandlin: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, BB, 4 K
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