10 hours Ago By LaMond Pope
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chase Meidroth didn’t make any excuses.The Chicago White Sox second baseman quickly dismissed the notion of losing the ball in the lights after a high popup from Drew Waters deflected off his glove, then hit him on the head and bounced away for an error in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game against the Kansas City Royals.
“No, I just missed it,” Meidroth said afterward at Kauffman Stadium.The Sox still had a chance to get a force out at second base on the play. Right fielder Michael A.
Taylor scrambled to track down the ball, but his throw to second sailed over the head of shortstop Jacob Amaya.The entire sequence served as signature moments of a late-game defensive malfunction for the Sox, who surrendered two runs in the ninth and lost 4-3.“Not every loss is the same, right? And last night was a tough one,” manager Will Venable said Wednesday afternoon.
“At the same time, that’s part of the job for all of us. You have tough days, you have good days, but you have tomorrow and you’ve got to dust yourself off and come to the ballpark with a good attitude, ready to go.“That’s been the thing that’s stuck out with me about this group.
No matter how the day goes, they’re ready to go the next day.”White Sox shortstop Chase Meidroth can’t catch a ball hit by the Royals’ Drew Waters for a fielding error during the ninth inning Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)Venable said overall, he’s been “really happy” with what he’s seen from the club defensively.
“Just found these little pockets of play where it hasn’t been good,” he said. “But in general it’s been good and last night is a great example. We play 7 1/2 innings of amazing defense and just a couple plays get away from us and it unravels on us pretty quickly.
But in general, I think the performance defensively has been good.“Also, I’m really happy with the process, with how guys are working, the work that they’re putting in, our systems for positioning, our feedback loops on everything, the jobs our coaches are doing. Defensively, it has put us in a really good spot.
”Some of those defensive highs and lows were on display Tuesday.In the third inning, Miguel Vargas charged from third base, scooped up Kyle Isbel’s bunt with his bare hand and fired to first for an out. Later in the third, first baseman Andrew Vaughn ranged far into foul territory down the right-field line to catch Bobby Witt Jr.
’s popup to end the inning.Brooks Baldwin began the fourth with another defensive gem when he made a strong throw to second base to cut down Vinnie Pasquantino, who was trying to stretch a single into a double.“It’s nice to get the assist like that from the outfield,” Baldwin said Wednesday afternoon.
“Just something we work on every day, like during (batting practice) sometimes we’ll throw to bases. Just work on getting to the ball quick, whether it’s a backhand or forehand, just however you can get to it the fastest. Get it.
And as little time as possible, getting a good throw and an accurate throw on base.“It doesn’t necessarily have to be the hardest throw, but an accurate throw is always better than the one that’s harder.”In the seventh, second baseman Josh Rojas delivered another solid defensive play while fielding Isbel’s hard grounder and making an off-balanced throw to Meidroth — who was playing shortstop at the time — for a force out at second.
Kansas City Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino is tagged out at second by Chicago White Sox second baseman Josh Rojas in the fourth inning on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)But the game started taking a turn in the eighth when Salvador Perez’s playable line drive to left field went over Baldwin’s head for a run-scoring double, cutting the Sox lead to 3-2.“Just one of those plays,” Baldwin said.
“Haven’t had a lot of those hard-hit line drives at me yet. It’s one of those where I’ve got to get behind the ball there and keep it in front of me instead of trying to drift too much.”The Sox escaped the eighth without further damage.
They couldn’t duplicate that feat in the ninth.The Sox were charged with one error on Tuesday, giving them 27 on the season. They entered Wednesday tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the second-most in the majors.
The Boston Red Sox led the way with 30.“Converting balls into outs, obviously, is a big indicator,” Venable said of signs of progression defensively. “But also, how are guys working, what’s the adjustments? For us, one of the big indicators is first step.
It’s what we kind of indicated in spring training, it’s kind of a metric that’s going to anchor us in how we evaluate ourselves and things we can point to to get better at.“We continue to progress and our first steps continue to get better. Feel like we’re in a good spot.
”Andrew Benintendi goes on the 10-day ILChicago White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi drives in a run on a single in the first inning of a game against the Houston Astros at Rate Field in Chicago on May 3, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)The Sox placed left fielder Andrew Benintendi on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain. The move is retroactive to Monday.
Benintendi suffered the injury during Sunday’s game against the Houston Astros at Rate Field.“Just want to do the right thing, give him some time to recover here and not do more damage,” Venable said. “Not expecting it to be deep into the summer that we get him back, but we’ve got to give him a week or so and reevaluate, see where he’s at.
”Benintendi is slashing .224/.298/.
400 with five home runs and 12 RBIs in 24 games.In Wednesday’s corresponding move, the Sox selected the contract of infielder Nick Maton from Triple-A Charlotte. Maton slashed .
173/.295/.327 with two home runs and four RBIs in 23 games with the Sox before being designated for assignment on April 26.
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