Both sides try to give it away, but White Sox pitchers are poorer as Sox lose to A’s in 11
The 7-6 score betrays how inefficient both offenses were
In one of many pivotal points of Saturday’s game, Lawrence Butler was nosed out of a triple by Miguel Vargas in the eighth inning. | Scott Marshall-Imagn Images When the White Sox took a 5-0 lead in the second inning, the game had the makings of another laugher. Instead, 10 walks by Sox pitchers and eight to go with four hit batters by the A’s staff turned a runaway win into a groaner, with the Sox losing, 7-6, in extras..
The big Sox lead came on two bloops and two blasts. It started with a solo 106. 5 mph, 397-foot blast by Colson Montgomery followed by lucky pop-ups (a double by Everson Pereira and RBI single by Reese McGuire) and a three-run shot by Andrew Benintendi.
At that point, it sure looked like A’s starter Luis Severino, who came into the game with a 5. 55 ERA, was done for. Instead, Severino would last into the sixth, walking four but only giving up one single after the second.
Meanwhile, Erick Fedde lost his sense of direction, himself walking four and surrendering solo runs in the second, third and fifth. Sean Newcomb managed not to walk anyone but gave up a triple to Max Muncy and a sac fly in the sixth, to close the Chicago lead to 5-4. In the top of the seventh, though, Munetaka Murakami showed how amazingly strong he is by just sort of wrist-flicking the ball 415 feet over the center field wall.