Classic White Sox defensive miscues across the field, throwing errors and inexperienced outfielders were essentially the difference in this game, as the Miami Marlins rebounded Tuesday to beat the South Siders, 9-2. A fourth-inning rally paired with a few gaffes in the outfield soured Erick Fedde’s season debut, although his final line in the box score doesn’t necessarily tell the full story.
The South Side offense felt in control early in the game, but seemingly stepped off a cliff after the third inning. Miguel Vargas attempted to get something going in the second with a one-out double out to left center, but neither Austin Hays nor Tristan Peters was able to get the job done. No harm, no foul, however, as the offense picked back up in the top of the third with Edgar Quero and Luisangel Acuña ripping consecutive singles up the middle. Chase Meidroth was caught looking on the next at-bat, but the Good Guys took a two-run lead with RBI singles from both Munetaka Murakami and Andrew Benintendi. Mune has now gotten a hit in each of his first five games as a major-leaguer. I think we’re going to like having him around, Sox fans.
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Fedde cruised through the first three innings, with his lone baserunner being a walk to Owen Caissie in the bottom of the second. The South Side offense had given him that two-run cushion to work with in the third, but the defense was scattered at best and clueless at worst, easily amplifying any mistakes made.
Xavier Edwards reached on a base hit to start the bottom of the fourth, and the first mishap in the outfield came from a lack of communication from center fielder Luisangel Acuña and right fielder Tristan Peters, with the ball ultimately deflecting off of Peters’ glove to put runners on second and third. Both players were cutting across the field towards each other at full speed, and it seemed like Acuña was ready and able to make the play. That’s Acuña’s ball/call, but instead he allowed Peters to cut in front of him at the last second. It was a silly play from the both of them, and had someone just called the other off it likely would have been an out. The miscommunication led to a two-run double on the next at-bat from Liam Hicks, tying the game at two. So it goes.
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Fedde managed to strike out Otto López for the first out of the inning, but back-to-back RBI singles followed, allowing the Marlins to take a two-run lead, 4-2. Both balls were hit out to center, and Acuña wasn’t able to make a throw on-line to the plate, and ended up being charged two errors, one on each throw. The first one unfortunately hit Hicks as he was crossing the plate, but Acuña was given the error as the bad throw allowed Caissie to reach second.
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The second error, however, was a bit worse. By worse, I mean nowhere near the plate. The Marlins play-by-play announcer summed it up well enough: “Acuña is having all sorts of problems in center.”
In Acuña’s defense, he’s played all of two regular season games in the outfield before this year, so no, we shouldn’t expect him to be an All-Star overnight. But he certainly has some learning to do.
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After that mess, Fedde was able to strike out the next batter and force a fly out to finally get out of the inning. He even returned for a 1-2-3 fifth inning, closing out his season opener on a high note. This was another situation that we probably should be thankful for instant replay. The inning could have gone a whole lot worse had there not been the tiniest amount of evidence that showed Meidroth’s tag barely tipping Edwards on the helmet after attempting to stretch a single into a two-bagger. Crisis averted … for now.
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Fedde ended the day with four runs (three earned) given up on six hits across five innings, walking one while striking out four, though he was unfortunately handed the loss. The energy in this game was reminding me more of the 2024 season, where there was little-to-no run support, and a two-run lead felt insurmountable almost instantly. And of course, it was, because the White Sox failed to get a hit after their little rally in the third (their only two other base runners stemmed from walks from Quero and Peters in the fourth and seventh). Miami even struck out the side in the fifth and the ninth.
Not that there was any hitting to show for it, but the South Side bullpen wasn’t doing itself any favors, allowing five more runs (four earned) in the final three innings. Bryan Hudson came in to relieve Fedde, and was solid in the sixth inning, but things got dicey in the bottom of the seventh and Miami added two more runs. One of the runs came from a safety squeeze bunt that Hudson threw home, but Quero wasn’t able to handle it and make the tag. You could probably flip a coin on who to give the error to, but that’s the second time that the Sox reached to tag a player rather than getting more out front to make the tag, and sadly there wasn’t anything to review that time.
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Hudson allowed one more on a sacrifice fly on the next batter, and forced Edwards to ground out before being replaced by Jedixson Páez, who was able to get Agustín Ramírez to fly out and end the inning. Páez didn’t fare well in the eighth, however, walking the leadoff batter and giving up a single to put two on almost immediately. One sac fly and a two-run bomb later, and all of a sudden the Marlins had a seven-run lead, 9-2.
It’s been just three outings for Páez, but he’s certainly struggled thus far, giving up his sixth run in three innings pitched. It’s still early in the year, but he’ll need to make some adjustments sooner rather than later to keep his place on the roster this season.
The White Sox have a day game tomorrow down in Florida, and first pitch will take place at 12:10 p.m. CT. Shane Smith will look to bounce back from his rough Opening Day outing, going against veteran righthander Sandy Alcantara, who is coming off an excellent seven-inning start to open the season.
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