The Chicago White Sox have been mounting a rally within the eighth inning Friday in opposition to the Oakland Athletics.
Two runs have been in because of a double by Andrew Benintendi.
There have been two on and two outs with the No. 2 batter within the Sox lineup, Tim Anderson, on the plate. But Reliever Trevor May entered and struck out Anderson, who slammed his bat after fanning for the fourth time.
It was an evening of missed alternatives for the Sox in a 7-4 loss to the A’s in entrance of 14,181 at Oakland Coliseum.
The Sox went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring place, dropping the opener of a three-game collection in opposition to the workforce with the worst file in baseball.
“The game was probably decided in the first couple of innings,” Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol mentioned.
The Sox scored simply as soon as in these innings regardless of loading the bases in each the primary and second.
Benintendi started the sport with a double. Eloy Jiménez introduced him dwelling with a two-out single. Andrew Vaughn singled — his first of three hits — and Yasmani Grandal walked, loading the bases with two outs.
Gavin Sheets put a great swing on it, however flew out to proper to finish the inning.
When A’s starter Luis Medina walked Luis Robert Jr. with two outs within the second — his third stroll issued within the inning — the Sox discovered themselves with the bases loaded. But Jiménez grounded to shortstop Aledmys Díaz, who received the drive at second to finish the risk.
“Bases loaded a couple of times, we hit one in the gap there and it’s a whole different ballgame,” Grifol mentioned. “Just didn’t do it.”
A leadoff stroll ignited a four-run rally for the A’s within the backside of the second. Tony Kemp drove in a run later within the inning with a triple after which scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.
Sox starter Tanner Banks allowed 4 runs on 5 hits with three strikeouts and one stroll in 4 innings.
“Got a little bit out of my attack plan and in my approach and obviously it got to me,” Banks mentioned. “Made some good pitches however that they had some good swings on them.
“My goal is to keep the team in the game as well as I can and give them as much length as I can. Wasn’t able to keep them in there early long enough.”
Medina walked 5, however escaped with permitting simply the one run on 4 hits with 4 strikeouts in 5 innings.
“That guy had good stuff tonight, upper 90s, a little wild, but effectively wild,” Benintendi mentioned.
Sox hitting coach José Castro later argued Medina’s fourth-inning referred to as strikeout of Anderson and was ejected earlier than the highest of the fifth.
The Sox trailed 5-1 going to the eighth. They loaded the bases once more with two outs. This time, Benintendi got here by way of with the two-run double in opposition to reliever Sam Moll to make it 5-3.
“That’s not a very comfortable at-bat, that guy’s got some good stuff,” Benintendi mentioned. “I was just trying to get something up and something I could put a good swing on. Fortunately able to barrel it.”
That introduced up Anderson with runners on second and third. May received him swinging in a four-pitch at-bat.
Asked if he thought-about transferring Anderson (4-for-53 in his final 14 video games) within the lineup, Grifol mentioned, “Haven’t thought about that yet.”
The Sox — who gave up two within the eighth and received one again on Robert’s twenty fourth homer of the season within the ninth — will spend a while pondering how one other one received away.
“You can break it down any way you’d like, there were times we should have scored, could have pushed more across and times where maybe we took advantage,” Benintendi mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com