SEATTLE β Jhonny Pereda stepped in against Sean Newcomb in the bottom of the seventh, tied game, and hit the first home run of his major league career 392 feet into the Seattle bullpen. Randy Arozarena followed two batters later with a two-run shot off Jordan Hicks. Three runs in one inning. Series over. The Mariners beat the White Sox 5-4 Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park to take the rubber game and the series, two games to one. Chicago drops to 25-24.
The White Sox had answers for everything Seattle threw at them for six innings. They didn't have one for the seventh.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHW | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| SEA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | β | 5 | 7 | 1 |
Chicago Kept Fighting Back
Give the White Sox credit β they didn't let Seattle pull away early, and they didn't go quietly late.
The Mariners opened the scoring in the second when Randy Arozarena, who had been hit by a Sean Burke pitch, stole second and scored on Dominic Canzone's one-out double to right. Chicago answered in the third. Sam Antonacci reached with a one-out single to left and stole second, and Andrew Benintendi drove him home with a two-out single to center. Tied at one.
Seattle nudged back in front in the fourth on a Patrick Wisdom double to left that scored Arozarena β who had, again, been hit by Burke. Chicago tied it again in the fifth when Luisangel AcuΓ±a scored on a Munetaka Murakami single to right, Antonacci moving to third on the play.
Two-two through six. The White Sox had matched Seattle punch for punch. Then the seventh happened.
The Seventh Inning
Pereda led off the bottom of the seventh against Newcomb. He turned on a pitch and drove it 392 feet into the visitor's bullpen at 106.7 mph off the bat β the first home run of his major league career, coming in his 136th big-league at-bat. Chicago never recovered from what came next.
Julio RodrΓguez followed with a double, and the White Sox pulled Newcomb for Jordan Hicks with two outs. Arozarena worked the count, then launched his fifth homer of the season β a 396-foot shot to left-center that scored RodrΓguez and put Seattle up three. It was the second time in this series that a Seattle hitter had gone deep for their first career homer β Colt Emerson did it Monday night β only this time it was the backup catcher, a 30-year-old from Venezuela who had spent parts of four MLB seasons waiting for that moment.
Pereda is here only because Cal Raleigh β the AL's runner-up MVP last season β landed on the 10-day injured list last week with a right oblique strain. He's made the most of it.
The Meidroth Mistake
It's worth noting what didn't happen in the sixth. With the game still tied, Chase Meidroth reached third base and strayed too far off the bag. Pereda made a sharp throw through and Meidroth was caught in a rundown and tagged out β a mental mistake that snuffed out whatever Chicago had building in that inning. In a one-run game, that play matters.
Burke's Start, Newcomb's Loss
Sean Burke gave the White Sox 4.2 innings β not clean, but serviceable. He hit Arozarena twice and Canzone once, walked three, and left with the score tied at two. His game score of 50 tells the whole story: enough to keep Chicago in it, not enough to win it.
Newcomb inherited a tied game in the seventh and gave back the lead on the first batter he faced. He falls to 0-1.
Pitcher Stats
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | PC-ST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burke | 4.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 83-49 |
| Newcomb (L, 0-1) | 2.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 21-15 |
| Hicks | 0.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5-4 |
| Eisert | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14-8 |
| Hancock | 5.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 86-46 |
Too Little, Too Late
Chicago wasn't done. The White Sox scratched back for two runs over the final two innings and made it a game before Ferrer slammed the door.
Meidroth and Kelenic singled in the eighth with one out. Peters hit a grounder that looked like a double play β but shortstop Colt Emerson's throw home was wild, and Meidroth scored on the error to make it 5-3. Then in the ninth, Randal Grichuk pinch hit for Antonacci and drove the first pitch he saw from Jose Ferrer 360 feet to right for his fourth homer of the season. Suddenly it was a one-run game.
Ferrer struck out the next three hitters he faced β all pinch bats β to close it out and earn his third save. That was that.
Emerson Hancock worked five innings for Seattle, walking three and allowing two runs, but extended his streak of starts with at least five innings pitched to ten games. Matt Brash picked up the win with a clean seventh.
What's Next
The White Sox head to San Francisco to open a three-game series against the Giants. Davis Martin (6-1, 1.61 ERA) starts Friday night opposite Giants right-hander Trevor McDonald (2-0, 2.37). First pitch is 9:15 p.m. Central.