For a young Chicago White Sox team locked in a tight division race, Thursday’s loss in Cleveland was an inexcusable missed opportunity. From stranding runners on base to running into outs and blowing a late lead, the White Sox let a winnable game slip through their fingers.
The White Sox have already blown 18 saves this season, closing in on the 24 they had over the entirety of last season. Even bypassing $10 million reliever Seranthony Domínguez — who is being paid $20 million to help address the issue — in favor of Grant Taylor failed to solve the bullpen’s late-inning woes.
After Taylor worked a scoreless eighth, Will Venable entrusted the ninth to the hard-throwing right-hander in the hopes he could record a six-out save with the White Sox clinging to a 5-4 lead. Taylor quickly unraveled, issuing a leadoff walk after missing with his first six pitches of the inning and immediately putting the tying run on base.
Two batters later, Taylor grooved a fastball to Guardians shortstop Bryan Rocchio, who sent it 380 feet into the right field stands for a walk-off home run.
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For White Sox fans, it was a painfully familiar ending. Progressive Field has long been a house of horrors for the Southsiders, whose last win in Cleveland came back in 2024.
But Taylor merely delivered the final blow. The White Sox spent nine innings creating the conditions for Thursday’s 6-5 loss, starting with the rest of the pitching staff.
Davis Martin’s woes away from Rate Field continued. He lasted just 3.1 innings before being chased from the game after allowing two runs on six hits while failing to record a strikeout for the first time all season. His command was shaky from the outset, as he walked five batters, including one with the bases loaded to force in a run, and threw just 37 of his 73 pitches for strikes.
Martin’s early exit put the bullpen in a tough spot, and they failed to pick him up. Sean Newcomb gave up a run in the sixth, Brandon Eisert served up a pinch-hit homer to David Fry in the seventh, and Grant Taylor capped off the collapse with his third blown save of the season in the ninth as a 5-2 lead slipped away.
The offense did its part in spurts, scoring five runs across two innings on doubles from Sam Antonacci and Kyle Teel and a two-run blast from Chase Meidroth. But missed chances loomed large throughout the night.
The White Sox stranded two runners in the second, two more in the fourth, and one in each of the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.
Baserunning also proved costly. After leading off the game with a single, Sam Antonacci was picked off attempting to steal second before the pitcher had even delivered a pitch to the plate.
Needing an insurance run in the eighth, the White Sox were gifted a chance when the Guardians committed a throwing error that put Meidroth in scoring position. But the opportunity was quickly flushed away when Meidroth was thrown out at third trying to tag up on a fly ball to center field.
Aggressive baserunning has been one of the staples of this White Sox team and one of the reasons they have been so entertaining. But there is a fine line between aggressive and stupid, and the White Sox crossed it.
The fact that the White Sox are playing meaningful games in July is a privilege, especially after three consecutive triple-digit loss seasons. But games like Thursday’s are the difference between hanging around in a division race and sliding out of it. The White Sox have done a great job capitalizing on opponents’ mistakes all season but failed to do so in arguably the most important game of the season to date.
