Sox Machine

The White Sox had one job at Progressive Field this holiday weekend: Split the series and return from Cleveland with a one-game lead intact. And they did. Now, you might have qualms with how they did it, getting walked off in the first two games, then ending up on the right side of a one-run game only after weathering two awful defensive innings and the failure to capitalize on a pair of bases-loaded opportunities late in the game.

In the eighth inning, Grant Taylor did his best Grant Taylor impression. In the ninth inning, Grant Taylor did his best Seranthony Domínguez impression. After overwhelming the Guardians for two strikeouts and a groundout over a 16-pitch eighth, Will Venable sent Taylor back out for the ninth.

Before the White Sox coming to town, Baltimore president of baseball operations Mike Elias said the Orioles would be buyers if the trade deadline were one week away, rather than one month away. “I know our record is backwards, but apparently, this is infecting a whole bunch of other teams, too. I can’t explain it,” president of baseball operations Mike Elias said prior to Saturday’s 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Nationals at Camden Yards.

Shane Smith and Tanner McDougal both opened their rehab stints with the Winston-Salem Dash on Wednesday night, and both looked the way one would hope after a months-long layoff. Returning from a rotator cuff strain and pitching for the first time since April 30, Smith pitched two scoreless innings. More importantly, he avoided walking or hitting a batter, which is something he'd failed to do in any of his seven outings, over which he issued 24 free passes over 22 innings.

A happy Canada Day for Tyler O'Neill was a frustrating afternoon for the White Sox. The White Sox staked an immediate 1-0 lead on a Sam Antonacci leadoff homer, but the British Columbia natie O'Neill snuffed out their only other scoring opportunity with a diving catch that saved two runs in the top of the fourth.

The White Sox swung a minor trade as their major league team was running away from the Orioles on Thursday, sending Triple-A reliever Ben Peoples to Texas for minor league catcher Ben Hartl. It's a deal without an obvious impetus, is probably the way to put it. Peoples, who came over with Curtis Mead and Duncan Davitt from Tampa Bay in the Adrian Houser trade last July, had been the most effective member of the Charlotte bullpen this season.

By hanging a seven spot in the third, the White Sox ended a seven-series losing streak on the road. The White Sox used one of their trademarked crooked numbers to open up what had been tight 1-1 game and coast over the remaining two-thirds of the game. A second consecutive victory at Camden Yards locked in a series victory, which they hadn't done on the road since taking two of three in San Diego at the very beginning of May.

Tristan Peters spent a lot of time this offseason thinking about the paltry 12 hitless at-bats he got in his major league debut with Tampa last season. He's admitted he was sweating out the final roster cuts at the end of spring camp, expecting he might start in Triple-A.

The White Sox want to grab hold of every opportunity to press any perceived advantage. But when it comes to the league's eighth-best scoring offense that's vaulted them into contention for the American Central crown after three straight 100-loss seasons, they're also ... kind of chill? "[Friday], after my second at-bat, I had struck out on a 3-2 pitch and hit a groundout to the shortstop, [Will Venable] came up to me," said Kyle Teel. "He said, 'Hey man, you're being really hard on yourself.

Anthony Kay didn't have it, and the White Sox offense couldn't quite bring it. Kay gave up runs in each of the four innings he started, immediately squandering a pair of early leads provided by the Sox offense. Five White Sox relievers kept the Royals scoreless to keep the game within reach, but five Royals relievers kept the White Sox scoreless, and so the 5-4 final score was frozen in place after 3½ innings. Kay's day was a slog from the start.