DETROIT \u2014 The game was in the White Sox\u2019 grasp until it wasn\u2019t. Despite holding a two-run lead and playing clean baseball for much of the game, the Sox couldn\u2019t close the deal, allowing three runs in the ninth inning to fall to the Tigers 4-3 for their fifth consecutive loss.<\/p>\n
Reliever Fraser Ellard \u2014 who had retired left fielder Kerry Carpenter with runners on first and second in the eighth \u2014 allowed a single to Javy Baez, who was forced at second on Trey Sweeney\u2019s grounder, and walked Zach McKinstry after a 10-pitch at-bat to put runners on first and second. Ellard said he should\u2019ve taken a breath after McKinstry\u2019s at-bat to re-focus on pinch hitter Riley Greene, but he didn\u2019t. He walked Green on four pitches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one I\u2019m really kicking myself is the Riley Greene at-bat,\u201d Ellard said. Right-hander Jordan Leasure entered and walked Andy Ibanez to score a run. The final nail in the coffin came when Spencer Torkelson doubled to left field to drive in McKinstry and Greene for the walk-off win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt comes down to, I walked two guys, and those guys came in and scored,\u201d Ellard said. It negated a sterling performance by Martin Perez, who allowed one run, four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 6\u2153 innings. \u201cWe lost in the last inning,\u201d Perez said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the game, man. As a pitcher, you\u2019ve got to stay on the attack. We got behind, and we walked a couple of guys, and they got a double. But it\u2019s still early. I trust my team, and I trust my pitchers. We\u2019ll be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bullpen\u2019s struggles began in the seventh. Right-hander Mike Clevinger got Baez to fly out for the second out, but he walked Sweeney and McKinstry, forcing manager Will Venable to turn to Cam Booser for the final out. Clevinger\u2019s performance portended the performance of the rest of the bullpen, which couldn\u2019t find the strike zone. Penn Murfee followed Booser and allowed a hit and a walk, and Ellard and Leasure combined for three walks. Five Sox relievers allowed six walks, denying the defense the chance to make a play.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust too many walks out of the bullpen,\u201d Venable said. \u201cWe expect better out of those guys.\u201d The three-game sweep revealed all of the Sox\u2019 flaws. They were outscored 18-9, and their bullpen wasn\u2019t dependable. Entering Sunday, Sox relievers had the 13th-worst ERA in the majors (4.13). \u201cYou have to be competitive in the zone,\u201d Venable said of Ellard and Leasure. \u201cYou look at the McKinstry at-bat, that was a good at-bat where he battled and earned that walk. But Fraser\u2019s in the game there to get those guys out, and we\u2019ve got to make them put the ball into play.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a would-be win turned into a loss, the Sox have to turn the page before facing the Guardians in their home opener Tuesday. \u201cWe have good game plans, our starters are putting us in positions to win,\u201d Ellard said. \u201cThe overall performance and product has been a lot cleaner, just got to put everything together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White Sox’ bullpen imploded in the ninth inning, allowing the Tigers to earn a walk-off win and complete a three-game sweep. The team’s struggles with walks and dependable bullpen performance were exposed, highlighting the need for improvement.<\/p>\n
Disastrous Ninth Inning Game Overview DETROIT \u2014 The game was in the White Sox\u2019 grasp until it wasn\u2019t. Despite holding a two-run lead and playing clean baseball for much of the game, the Sox couldn\u2019t close the deal, allowing three runs in the ninth inning to fall to the Tigers 4-3 for their fifth consecutive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/75d8e0e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3446x1967+0+255\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ffa%2F8e%2Fe6b3541e4a078e973e0db1b28c1e%2F2208333197.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18156,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18154\/revisions\/18156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}