2020 OOTP sim: Second chance, second loss
DENVER — While the White Sox played a better game in their "makeup" vs. Colorado on Wednesday, the result was the same — another loss, and falling under .500.
The White Sox led all game, until the Rockies battered Aaron Bummer with a bevy of two-out hits to swoop in and steal a victory, 5-4.
[This game was originally lost, 8-2, and the most notable event from that game — now lost for posterity due to some finicky OOTP behavior — was Dallas Keuchel giving up a first-pitch home run to Garrett Hampson, plunking Trevor Story with the next pitch, and getting tossed out of the game. (Kid Keuchy received a roundhouse punch from Story when he charged the mound that left a shiner, and he also pocketed a six-game suspension from the league.)]
The game was scoreless through three, and on a 1-2 count with two outs in the fourth, a resurgent Yasmani Grandal clocked a 424-foot homer out to left. The next batter, Tim Anderson, spanked a 428-foot shot out to right-center, putting the White Sox up, 2-0.
While Keuchel pitched far better than the abomination that opened this road trip (eight earned runs in a one-inning start), the lefty gave his lead right back in the bottom of the inning, when David Dahl and Nolan Arenado (448 feet!) went back-to-back. In a matter of four pitches, Colorado knotted the score.
In the sixth, the White Sox struck but as has been the case in the past week, left runs on the table. José Abreu and Leury García singled to open the innings, and with two outs Anderson doubled down right-field line to plate the lead run. Cheslor Cuthbert pinch-hit for Keuchel and popped out to third, leaving ducks on the pond.
On the first pitch of the seventh, Yoán Moncada homered into the teeth of an 11 mph wind blowing in from center, putting the White Sox up, 4-2.
But then Bummer came on for a possible two-inning save, whiffing his first two batter in the eighth but then hitting a batter. Four hits later,
A 1-2-3 ninth saw the White Sox respond to their first deficit of the day with a whimper.
On Friday, the team returns home to begin a series with Baltimore. Michael Kopech gets his first start (third appearance) of the season.
NOTES: After the game, the White Sox completed a trade with San Francisco. Chicago sent Triple-A catcher Seby Zavala and $5 million to the Giants for left-handed relief pitcher Tony Watson and right fielder Yasiel Puig ... Watson, paid $3 million and a free agent after the season, has appeared in 11 games for San Francisco with a 1-0 record, 0.84 ERA and 1.22 WHIP ... Puig, making the major-league minimum after signing a minor-league deal with the Giants on March 30, has a .184/.304/.364 slash with three homers and 10 RBIs in 20 games ... Zavala is slashing .095/.095/.238 with nine strikeouts in seven games at Charlotte ... Luis Robert was named the AL Rookie of the Month for April. Robert has started his major league career hitting .261/.320/.486 with six homers, 21 RBIs and four steals ... Robert hit .301 in April after getting off to a very slow start in March.
Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, for the NBA, MLB, NHL, and Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, SB Nation and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer when their 49-year Stanley Cup drought ended in 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and beat writer for Inside the Rays. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.
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