CLEVELAND -- On seven occasions this season, courtesy of seven different players, the White Sox have delivered the energizing walk-off hit sending the team into a jubilant frenzy. It’s one prime example of why the South Siders entered Thursday as the No. 2 seed in the American League with 77 games to play.
But after a gut-wrenching 6-5 walkoff loss to the Guardians (46-42) at Progressive Field, marking the series opener of this four-game set for American League Central supremacy in July, the resolve of the White Sox (45-41) will be tested in a different way.
They are a group never getting too caught up in the previous day’s big victory or tough injury. The same holds true for a loss produced by Brayan Rocchio’s first-pitch two-run homer off Grant Taylor and the foul pole, forging a first-place tie in the AL Central.
“We’ll sit in this tonight,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Obviously it hurts and those emotions are real. We want to win every game, especially coming in here to have that one slip away, it’s tough. But these guys have a short memory.”
“Obviously, we’re taking it hard tonight, because we feel like we should have had a win, but we didn’t and that’s Major League Baseball,” White Sox starter Davis Martin said. “They don’t hand them out. You’ve got to play all nine. Personality of our locker room, we’re going to pick ourselves up, we’ll show up tomorrow and be ready to roll.”
After falling behind 2-0 on an uncharacteristically wild night for Martin, the White Sox rallied for three in the fifth and two in the sixth to take control. Cleveland chipped away to cut the margin to 5-4 through seven, before Taylor took the mound.
There was a four-pitch walk issued to Steven Kwan with one out, but Taylor got through the eighth with two strikeouts and no runs allowed. Bryan Hudson was unavailable after pitching Wednesday in Baltimore and getting hot in the bullpen two other times, and one-time closer Seranthony Domínguez is being used in lower-leverage situations to get him back on track, although he could have followed Taylor if needed.
So, Taylor came back for the ninth and issued a four-pitch, leadoff walk to Rhys Hoskins. An eight-pitch battle with Kahlil Watson resulted in a fly out to center, before Rocchio connected on a 99.3 mph four-seamer up a bit and somewhat outside.
“Yeah, I wasn’t landing the curveball earlier,” Taylor said. “I was going to stick to my strength. I have a good fastball, especially against lefties. I threw it in a pretty good location, but he was looking for it and got a good swing.”
“He’s one of the toughest pitchers that I’ve faced, so I gotta be on the fastball every time,” Rocchio said. “He threw my pitch in that situation. I didn't miss it.”
Venable’s crew missed out on a chance to open up a two-game lead in the division during an entertaining contest that was not exactly a work of art. There were three outs on the bases in the first two innings, and five White Sox pitchers walked nine against four strikeouts.
Five of those walks came from Martin, a solid AL All-Star candidate. Martin also gave up six hits and didn’t record a strikeout for the first time in 61 career starts.
“It was infuriating, to be honest,” said Martin, who threw 37 of 73 pitches for strikes. “Just out of sync, fighting against myself, trying to make adjustments on the fly, adjustments weren’t working. It was just one of those days. Just chalk it up to try to limit as much damage as you can, try to go as deep as you can and try to keep the team in the game.”
“You talk about coming in this series and when you are facing the Guardians, limiting the free passes is No. 1 on the pitching side as far as the way to beat these guys,” Venable said. “And obviously tonight with the nine walks, you are not going to overcome that.”
Kyle Teel doubled home two runs and Chase Meidroth hit a two-run home run to right, putting the White Sox in good position leading to the ninth. The walk-off celebration was on the other side Thursday, but one loss won’t derail the White Sox playoff-directed standing.
“What matters now is how we respond to this. Losses like this are part of the game,” Teel said. “We’ve walked off plenty of times, other teams are going to do it, too.
“I’m proud of the guys, how much fight they’ve got. And how hard they play the game. It’s just about going out tomorrow and leaving it out on the field.”