BOSTON – The White Sox bats finally woke up after their first two games in Boston, but their marathon series finale did not fall their way, as Boston's bats matched them every step of the way, in a 12-11 affair that lasted 13 innings and four hours and 23 minutes, the longest game for either club this season.
“Good battle there,” said manager Will Venable. “Some things that we could control there that you wish you had back there, but you’ve got to give the Red Sox credit, too. This is the hardest team to beat right now. We’ve seen it firsthand now. Obviously the record against them speaks for themselves. We just couldn’t find a way to beat them.”
Chicago had a solid start behind the recently required Luis Castillo, who retired the first seven batters of the game before things started going awry.
A two-run home run off the bat of Connor Wong cut the team’s lead to 4-2 in the third inning, then Boston battered the White Sox hurler in the fourth to the tune of three runs and four hits to knot the game at 5.
That also ended the outing for Castillo, who threw just 71 pitches (42 strikes) and allowed five runs, six hits and one walk, while striking out five over four frames.
“I’m not satisfied with the job I did today.” said the right-hander, with assistance from interpreter Billy Russo. “I can do better. Next time, I will do my best. For the most part, everything was good, just one bad inning.”
“I think fastball command [was off] there, and it kind of piled up on him and he couldn’t put guys away,” noted Venable, on what he thought got away from his starting pitcher.
Chicago’s offense struck again in the fifth inning when a high chopper from Braden Montgomery back to the pitcher resulted in two runs on an errant throw to first base for a 7-5 advantage.
The hosts would not go quietly into the night, scrapping a run back in the sixth. Then in the ninth, on the brink of defeat and down to their final strike, Wilyer Abreu stroked a single to center field, tying the game and forcing extra innings.
Despite scoring just two runs and producing 10 hits combined in their first two games of the series, Chicago’s offense provided 13 hits to Thursday night’s affair.
The White Sox efforts continued into extra innings, where they proceeded to score two runs in the 10th and a run apiece in the 11th and 12th. The two in the 10th came courtesy of a Chase Meidroth two-run homer off Aroldis Chapman into the Green Monster Seats, his second two-run shot of the game.
“He got ahead of me early,” Meidroth said, of facing Boston's closer. “I got a good pitch to hit. He has a hell of an arm, and to get a good pitch off a guy like that, you’ve got to put it forward. I did my job there.”
Of course, the additional innings provide proof of life for the Red Sox, who meticulously matched them until the 13th, when Chicago was held scoreless before Boston sent them packing with a Caleb Durbin single up the middle.
With the loss, the White Sox were swept in their three-game series at Fenway Park, and they have now lost seven straight against Boston, dating back to last season.
“A lot of energy,” added Meidroth of the atmosphere. “That was a very loud crowd tonight. It’s just a game, it sucks to lose this one, but we’ve got a game tomorrow and we’ve got to move forward and take care of business this weekend.
“It’s a tough series, no doubt about it, especially with the chance to win tonight and end things on a good note. I think there’s a bunch of stuff that we’ve got to do a better job of. Go to the drawing board, do whatever we can to continue to get better and really move on from this one.”
Despite the results from the series, the White Sox (59-55) were still able to maintain a three-game lead in the AL Central race over Cleveland (57-59), whom they host for three big games starting on Friday night.