White Sox, storms and CJ Bucknor combine for 6-5 win over the Cardinals
Took over three hours for the final out, which really shouldn’t have been an out
The stage was set for a dramatic, extra-inning finale. The White Sox scored in the top of the 10th to go ahead 6-5, thanks to (who else) Tommy Pham scoring Manfred Man Rafael Ortega.
Then, in the bottom of the tenth, the Cardinals loaded the bases when Nolan Arenado singled Manfred Man Paul Goldschmidt to third, and when Goldschmidt broke home on a grounder to just-up-from-Birmingham Bryan Ramos, Ramos’ throw home was low and mishandled by Korey Lee, so Goldschmidt could scurry back to third.
Bases loaded, no outs. Looking bad for the visitors, though the back end of the Cardinals lineup is so awful it makes the back end of the Sox lineup look like the 1927 Yankees. John Brebbia struck out Lars Nootbar on a bouncing slider. Then the heavens opened up, a message from on high to postpone things a bit, but the umpires heeded not. Instead, with Brebbia doing his damnedest to keep the ball and his hand dry and Masyn Winn peering fruitlessly through the downpour to try to see the pitches, Winn K’ed as well.
Up came .182 hitter Nolan Gorman, who had earlier gifted the Sox with a run by idly waving at a grounder. Strike one called. And then it turned out the deluge had even more to say, and the game was finally shut down.
The skies kept teasing, and the game kept being pushed back half an hour at a time, until, more than three hours later, play resumed with Tanner Banks on the mound and Ivan Herrera pinch-hitting with an 0-1 count. It went to 1-2, and then Bucknor, regularly named the worst ump in the majors, earned that honor once more by deciding to end the game on a pitch well outside.
It was hardly Bucknor’s only terrible call of the game, but it was by far the most important. (John Schiffren, who had screamed bloody murder when a final strike of a game was badly called against the Sox a while back, was remarkably copacetic this time.)
So, Sox win, go 7-26 on the season.
What about the rest of the game?
Oh, yeah. There were nine earlier innings, punctuated by two pitchers who had been doing well — Erick Fedde and Lance Lynn — doing very badly indeed, especially with regard to finding whatever strike zone Bucknor had in mind at any given moment.
The White Sox went up, 2-0, in the first on a Nicky Lopez single, Pham walk, Gavin Sheets double and Eloy Jiménez sac fly, then made it 3-zip on Gorman’s matador job on a Lee ground-ball single, but Fedde’s wildness — he walked five in 4 1⁄3 innings after no walks in his last two starts — opened the gates to a five-run St. Louis fifth punctuated by an Arenado three-run homer.
Given a 5-3 lead, Lynn decided to politely give back, and walked Sheets and Jiménez to start the sixth — both of whom scored on a single by Lee. That was it until the dramatics in the 10th, with the Cardinals doing a lot more squandering of opportunities than the Sox, which was nice of them. Credit Tim Hill with especially nice relief work over two innings.
The series will be decided tomorrow afternoon, with Garrett Crochet taking on Kyle Gibson.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2024 Record 7-26, worst 33-game start in White Sox history (1 1⁄2 games ahead of the 1948 White Sox, at 8-24-1) and tied with six teams for eighth-worst in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -86, 15th-worst 33-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 34-128 (.266)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 9 games ahead
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 7 games ahead
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 24 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 28 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 4 games ahead
Race to the Worst MLB Record (1899 Spiders, 21-141*) 13 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season