CHICAGO -- The rain was coming late Sunday afternoon at Rate Field. Many of the lively 22,137 fans in attendance had headed for the exits after the Royals scored three runs in the top of the ninth and the White Sox, trailing by five, were getting ready to …
Win?
Chicago entered its final at-bats having gone hitless after Miguel Vargas’ two-run homer in the first, but clearly saved the best for last. The Sox three-run rally eventually ended in a 7-5 defeat, with Carlos Estévez striking out Tim Elko with the potential winning run at first, but short of completing this weekend three-game sweep against Kansas City (34-32), the ending was befitting of a fun-to-watch homestand for Chicago (22-44).
“Great, great. These division games are very important for us, especially games like today,” Vargas said. “We didn't get the sweep. It's a bad/good thing to have to talk about how we can't sweep. But we got the series, and that's very important for us."
“A really good homestand,” manager Will Venable said. “The support from the fans was amazing. There was energy every single game here. And the guys played great.”
This seven-game homestand against American League Central rivals began with a 13-1 drubbing at the hands of the division-leading Tigers on Monday, dropping the White Sox to 2-15 within the division. They won four of the next six contests, culminating with Sunday’s near-miss ninth inning.
Mike Tauchman drew a walk to start the ninth off reliever Trevor Richards, who was sent in to protect a five-run lead, followed by singles from Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi. Vargas walked to force home a run, which ended Richards’ afternoon, then Edgar Quero hit a run-scoring single off Estévez (19th save).
“Obviously, we're trying to put guys on base, trying to take good pitches,” Vargas said. “Be on base and trust the guy next to you."
Austin Slater followed with a line drive that headed toward left but was stopped short by a leaping, flying catch from shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who had hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth. Witt almost completed a game-ending double play on a grounder from Luis Robert Jr., but Robert hustled to beat the play at first, plating the run, and the game was kept alive for Elko after Josh Rojas walked to load the bases.
As the steady rain fell, Elko swung through a 96.9 four-seam fastball above the top of the zone.
“That was a great job, a great example of continuing to battle,” Venable said. “Just passing the baton and keeping the line moving. Obviously, fell short there. But nice to see from the guys.”
The loss went to Tyler Alexander, but it was far from a losing effort for the southpaw. The 30-year-old veteran agreed to a one-year, $760,000 deal at noon, took an Uber from Milwaukee and arrived at Rate Field at 1:30 p.m. CT.
By that point he had missed the pregame 21st birthday party for Southpaw, the White Sox mascot, and Pepe the penguin from Brookfield Zoo and former infield standout Ray Durham throwing out ceremonial first pitches. But he arrived in time to throw three innings in relief of Mike Vasil -- who made his first Major League start -- allowing one run over 45 pitches.
“We had been talking to the White Sox prior to today, so we knew that if I signed, there would be a good chance of me throwing,” said Alexander, who recorded a 6.19 ERA over 21 games for the Brewers before being designated for assignment on June 1. “So mentally I had prepared for it.
“Today has been a whirlwind. Off-day tomorrow in Houston and I’m going home to Arlington after Houston, so take a breather once we get there and settle in and it will be OK.”
Completing the rally would have given the White Sox a season-high four-game winning streak and evened their home ledger at 17-17 after a 4-10 start. They bring positive momentum on the road, where they feature a dismal 6-26 record, with their top starter (Shane Smith) taking the hill on Tuesday.
“Especially the last month, we've been playing very well, and we're feeling good and we trust everybody in here,” Vargas said. “That's a good thing."
“Every side of the ball, we played well,” Venable said. “The energy was there, we got good results. I also thought we played well in areas where we wanted to get better."