2020 OOTP sim: White Sox lose heartbreaker in extras, 1-0
SAN DIEGO – Dallas Keuchel, veteran star, came into tonight's game at San Diego outmatched by young Padres starter Dinelson Lamet, who is looking like an early Cy Young favorite entering the game 6-0 with a 1.22 ERA.
But Keuchel manned up and matched the out-of-nowhere stud pitch-for-pitch, actually besting Lamet with a game score of 80 tonight.
Still, Keuchel's two hits and one walk against eight Ks in seven innings was squandered by a quiet White Sox offense, which mustered just four hits over 10 innings in a 1-0 loss in extras.
Nick Madrigal accounted for two of the team's four hits, but the South Siders didn't get a single runner to third base. The all-or-nothing offense has been a lot of nothing for most of May, tonight earning just two walks against 11 strikeouts.
But to give you an idea of how odd this 2020 sim is — yeah, Dinelson Lamet is a Cy Young favorite and San Diego rules MLB with a 31-10 record — the White Sox are just 12th in the American League in walks with 120, but have the second-fewest strikeouts, at 319. Yep, nearly eight strikeouts per game is good for second in the league.
It took four innings before the White Sox had their first hit, a Leury García single. And the club mustered just one rally in the game, when in the seventh Luis Robert and Madrigal singled to put runners at first and second with one out. Yasiel Puig pinch-hit for Keuchel and flew out deep to center, and Yoán Moncada followed with a pop out to center as well.
The game was decided in the 10th, as Alex Colomé entered and surrendered a one-out pop-gun safety to Francisco Mejía. Pinch-hitter Jurickson Profar reached safely when Eloy Jiménez dropped a lazy fly to left, and Mejía moved to third on a tag-up when Greg García popped out to Jiménez for the second out. On a 2-1 count, pinch-hitter Eric Hosmer hit a worm-burner up the middle for the winning tally, sending the White Sox back to the team hotel at a team-worst three games below .500 on the season.
On Tuesday the Good Guys rack 'em back up, with a true pitching advantage: Michael Kopech (0-1, 2.25 ERA) against Padres lefty Joey Lucchesi (2-1, 7.31 ERA).
