1 day Ago
CHICAGO – In their first game back at Rate Field in almost two weeks, the White Sox led Tuesday’s series opener against the Brewers through five innings. But the Brewers capitalized on a four-run sixth inning that featured three singles, two walks and a hit batsman to secure a 7-2 comeback win. With this loss, the White Sox fall to 7-22 on the season and remain in last place in the AL Central division.
Both offenses got off to quick starts Tuesday night. Brewers left fielder Isaac Collins hit his first career home run in the game’s second at-bat, a 372-foot solo shot to left field off of left-hander Tyler Gilbert, who was opening his third game of the season. Brewers starter Freddy Peralta entered Tuesday’s game with a 2.
43 ERA, but Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. hit the White Sox first back-to-back home runs of the season in the bottom half. Benintendi lined a high fastball just inside the foul pole, and Robert drove a fastball 415 feet to center field to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.
Robert is off to a slow start, batting .158, but he's on a four-game hit streak and may be heating up. “It’s just a work in progress,” Robert said.
I think I’m getting closer. It’s just a matter of keep working and keep doing what I know I can do and get the results at the end.” Peralta shook off an uncharacteristic first inning and notched his second quality start of the season.
Beginning with a Brooks Baldwin strikeout to end the first, Peralta retired six straight batters and didn’t allow a hit the rest of his outing. He finished with six innings, three hits, two earned runs, three walks and five strikeouts. “We want to take the fastball away from him early and be aggressive to it,” Venable said.
“We knew that he was going to make an adjustment and we were going to have to respond and make an adjustment back. And between us not being able to counter and him just doing a really good job continuing to attack different ways, he made it tough on us.” Right-hander Bryse Wilson followed Gilbert, who allowed one run in two innings to begin the game.
Wilson was sharp to start, tossing three scoreless innings. He faced the minimum in his first two innings, then got some help from his defense with a double play to end the fourth and a runner caught stealing in the fifth. Wilson’s curveball induced soft contact to begin the sixth, but he couldn’t get to Joey Ortiz’s slow ground ball down the third base line in time to throw him out at first.
Wilson walked Collins to at-bats later, and William Contreras drove his outside cutter to the opposite field for a game-tying RBI single. That was it for Wilson, who felt good but ran into trouble with three walks to lefties. "I think I can just be a little bit more aggressive,” Wilson said.
“And trust my stuff with the lefties a little bit more instead of veering away from damage and just attack those guys in the zone." Wilso was replaced by left-hander Brandon Eisert. With runners on second and third, Eisert struck out Christian Yelich looking on a perfectly placed slider on the outside corner.
The White Sox intentionally walked Rhys Hoskins to load the bases with two outs, but the decision backfired as Eisert hit Sal Frelick by pitch to bring in a run, giving Milwaukee the lead. Caleb Durbin gave the Brewers a 5-2 lead two pitches later with a ground ball that snuck between Miguel Vargas and Jake Amaya on the left side. Wilson started off strong, but his final line read 3.
1 innings with two hits, three earned runs, three walks and a strikeout. Eisert and Jared Shuster were credited with the other two runs. “[Wilson] did a good job there.
Just the trouble towards the end of his outing,” Venable said. “But he did his job and kept us in the game. We’ve just got to find a way to score some runs and finish off that ending there in the sixth, I think it was.
Otherwise he did a great job.” Brewers relievers Abner Uribe and Craig Yoho kept the White Sox lineup quiet in the seventh and eighth innings, allowing just two base runners – a softly hit ground ball and a hit batsman – while striking out three. Joel Payamps closed the game out with a perfect ninth.
Game 2 of the three-game series is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. CT at Rate Field.
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