Brewers 12, White Sox 5: I hate it here

Welcome to rock bottom

I’m not going to go into this recap with something witty, because this game sucked.

The first inning started rocky for Erick Fedde, with two hits and a walk — but two swinging strikeouts later, he was out of trouble. The second wouldn't be as lucky, giving up a hit to Sal Frelick and an RBI double to Joey Ortiz.

The third inning brought in a few runs, and for a second it seemed Milwaukee might suffer some infamy tonight. Paul DeJong started the inning with a solo homer, followed by Danny Mendick quite literally taking one for the team with a hit-by pitch.

Tommy Pham singled to advance Mendick, and then Corey Julks doubled to send both runners home. The White Sox saw their first lead, 3-1.

Christian Yelich started to heat up in the bottom of the third with a double, but the offense stalled, only advancing Yelich to third after Bauers grounded out to second.

Andrew Benintendi would single in the fourth, followed by a DeJong double, and Mendick reached on fielder’s choice to third. Benintendi continued his streak of disappointing everyone by getting thrown out at home, followed by Martín Maldonado — seriously, you expected otherwise — making the last out in the inning.

Fedde struggled in the bottom of the fourth. It started with walking Frelick. Ortiz singled to short, followed by a Blaze Perkins single that sent Frelick home. A Brice Turang sac fly advanced the runners and Willson Contreras walked, loading the bases for Yelich, who sent Ortiz home on a single. The inning ended in a double play, but the Sox lead had vanished.

But wait, the South Siders answered in the fifth with singles from Pham, Nicky Lopez, and Korey Lee. Gavin Sheets had a sac fly to send Pham home and Lee’s single sent Lopez across the plate. Lee stole second, and got to third on a Contreras error. Sure, Benintendi ended the inning with a strikeout, but the Sox were back up, 5-4.

The bottom of the fifth and all of the sixth would be mostly uneventful, and the Brewers had a 1-2-3 top of the seventh.

If you want to got to sleep happy, stop reading now.

Look, Michael Soroka had a tough time in the sixth, but escaped the self-made jam. The start of the seventh began with a single from Frelick and a fly out from Ortiz. Then all hell broke loose.

Perkins singled, and Turang singled to send Frelick home. Soroka got the collar after tossing 38 pitches just to get two outs.

John Brebbia took over and, uh, struggled right away. Contreras singled to left to send Perkins home. Yelich doubled to left, plating Turang and Contreras. Bauers followed a grounder from Willy Adames with a single to send Yelich home. Rhys Hoskins followed up with a single.

Pedro Grifol pulled Brebbia. He was probably “flat.”

Remember how we started this inning with Frelick? Cool. He doubled, this time against Jared Shuster, sending Bauers home. Schuster walked Ortiz, but ended the inning with a Perkins fly out to right.

The Brewers scored six runs in 30 minutes. What was once a 5-4 game flipped into a 10-5 rout.

Yelich seemed to be back to his MVP days, which seems ominous for this series.

There was answer in the eighth for the Sox, of course. And in the bottom half, Shuster and the abysmal White Sox defense struggled further. Turang singled, again, and advanced on a wild pitch. Yelich singled, yet again, to send Turang home. Adames reached on fielder’s choice to third, Bauers doubled, Oliver Dunn singled to send Adames home, but Dunn ended the inning getting thrown out at second.

Girfol threw perpetual brief call-up Lenyn Sosa a bone with the game out of hand, and Sosa stepped in and singled in the ninth. But that wouldn’t be enough, and the White Sox whimpered to another loss. Scott Merkin spent some time studying the game notes during the Milwaukee’s half-hour of batting practice in the seventh inning:

---

Futility Watch

White Sox 2024 Record 15-43, worst 58-game start in White Sox history (3 1⁄2 games ahead the next-worst, 1948 White Sox) and tied for the ninth-worst start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -134, tied for 13th-worst 58-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 42-120 (.259)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 1 game ahead
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 1 game behind
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 14 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 10 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 4 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season

---

---