Doggone: Mariners 8, White Sox 4

Pale Hose get walked off, in grand fashion

It was a dog-day evening at T-Mobile Park, as the first-place Seattle Mariners scuffled against Erick Fedde and the White Sox for seven of nine innings, before rallying in the eighth and walking the game off in the bottom of the ninth. Fedde went seven scoreless before allowing a solo home run in the eighth, and the Sox bats outlasted Logan Gilbert and the M’s pen until fate caught up to them late.

This one was a pitchers’ duel early, and both starters kept their opponents at bay through the first six innings.

J.P. Crawford came just short of his third consecutive leadoff homer, and it was that kind of night for the home team.

Andrew Vaughn extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a one-out single in the second.

Only the White Sox could have a guy with a 10-game hitting streak, in June, batting .222.

Fedde was dealing early, and perhaps enjoying a little help from the men in blue ...

Logan Gilbert was also on his game through the early innings:

Through four innings, both teams managed only two hits apiece off their opponent’s starters.

Did we have the makings of a pitchers’ duel, or was it just bad offense? You decide.

The game action was rather boring early, but the dog lovers in the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves:

In the You Can’t Make This Shit Up Department:

Korey Lee led off the sixth with a double off the wall. The Pale Hose picked up their first extra-base hit of the evening.

Gilbert kept the Sox at bay until leaving a four-seamer over the heart of the plate, which Luis Robert Jr. promptly DESTROYED for his fifth homer of the season.

Seattle’s offensive woes were on full display against Fedde.

Vaughn doubled to lead off the seventh, and would score on a Lenyn Sosa single to center to make the game 3-0, White Sox.

Corey Julks put a charge into a Matt Bowman sinker to put the Sox up, 4-0, in the eighth.

Just when you thought the game was in hand for the South Siders, the White Sox reminded everyone that they are in fact the White Sox.

Bad manager Pedro Grifol inexplicably sent Fedde out for the bottom of the eighth, and Dom Canzone greeted him with a first pitch blast to start the comeback.

Ryan Bliss singled, J.P. Crawford walked, and Josh Rojas singled and the sacks were packed with M’s. Home plate umpire Chris Guccione’s quizzical strike zone helped Michael Kopech record two strikeouts with the bases loaded, but Mitch Haniger came through with a two-run single to cut the Sox lead to 4-3.

With Sosa playing back, Luke Raley dropped a perfect bunt down the third-base line to tie the game. The White Sox gave up the lead in the most White Sox way possible, on a two-out, RBI bunt single.

Perhaps the scariest moment of the game:

Yikes.

The M’s weren’t done after scratching across four runs to tie the game in the eighth. They would add on four more to end the game in grand fashion.

Back-to-back walks by Crawford and Rojas, and a Julio Rodríguez single loaded the bases for the Mariners in the bottom of the ninth. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Cal Raleigh called game, launching Jordan Leasure’s 98 mph four-seam fastball deep to right for a walk off grand slam.

The worst team in baseball keeps finding new ways to give away winnable games.

Sox lose, 8-4. They fall to 17-50 on the season.

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Futility Watch

White Sox 2024 Record 17-50, worst 67-game start in White Sox history (4 games ahead the next-worst, 1934 White Sox) and tied for the seventh-worst start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -148, 23rd-worst 67-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 41-121 (.254)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 2 games ahead
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) EVEN
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 15 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 11 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 3 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season

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