Blue Jays 5, White Sox 4: Bluebirds soar while South Siders free-fall
Time to do the laundry, because the Pale Hose just stink
The Good Guys were hoping to avoid the doubleheader and three-game sweep, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. They did manage to generate some offense in the finale to make the game somewhat entertaining, even if the outcome was pretty much hopeless, as the Toronto Blue Jays bashed the Chicago White Sox pitchers for 16 hits. The team ends up 0-6 against the Blue Jays on the season.
The first inning came and went rather quietly for both squads. However, the Toronto bats came to life in the top of the second. Matt Chapman led off with a double but was quickly erased on a rocket throw from Oscar Colás when Chapman tried to go to third on a Daulton Varsho fly out. That play proved to loom large as the next batter, Whit Merrifield, launched a solo shot to left center field. Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio followed with back-to-back singles, but the threat ended when Santiago Espinal flew out to right.
The South Siders came thundering back to take the lead 3-1 in the bottom of the third. Seby Zavala led off with a single but was thrown out at the plate when he tried to score on a double by Andrew Benintendi. Tim Anderson followed with a single, driving home Benny. After Luis Robert Jr. struck out swinging, Eloy Jiménez knocked a two-run bomb to right field, his 12th of the season.
Toronto quickly countered and snatched one run back in the top of the fourth when Chapman hit a no-doubter homer to left field, cutting the Sox lead to 3-2. Then, the Jays pushed Jesse Scholtens out of the game in the top of the fifth after consecutive singles by George Springer, Bo Bichette, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. tied the game, 3-3. Bryan Shaw, who had already pitched in the opener, came on in relief with two on and nobody out and got Chapman to hit into a double play and Varsho to ground out to end the frame and limit the damage.
The scoring in this game felt a bit like a ping-pong match. In the bottom of the fifth, the Pale Hose took back the lead, 4-3, when Anderson hit into a double play that scored Zavala, who had doubled to lead off the inning. But, of course, the Bluebirds would swoop in and knot it up in the top of the sixth with another Merrifield dinger. Finally, the Jays went ahead for good, 5-4, in the top of the seventh when Bichette scored on a Guerrero double.
Next up, it’s bad baseball vs. bad baseball, as the last-place St. Louis Cardinals roll into town for a three-game set over the weekend. It should be nice weather-wise to head out to the old ballpark, and you might actually have a chance to see a winner.