It was a bad mistake by White Sox shortstop Brooks Baldwin.
After Cubs third baseman Isaac Paredes hit a two-out double in the fifth inning on Saturday, Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi caught the ball after it hit the wall and threw it to Baldwin, the cutoff man.
Instead of throwing the ball immediately to the plate – where he potentially could have thrown out Cubs baserunner Cody Bellinger – Baldwin looked toward second base. Instead of potentially ending the inning with one out at home, Baldwin simply held the ball. Third-base coach Willie Harris’ aggressive throwing paid off and the Cubs tied the game.
“(Baldwin) was just caught off guard,” Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “I don’t think he expected the third-base coach to send him there. I think he just thought, ‘First and third base, maybe I’ll have a play against (Paredes) at second base.'”
Catcher Miguel Amaya later hit a game-winning two-run double in the eighth inning against reliever Chad Kuhl in the Sox’ 3-1 loss, their 44th loss after leading and their 35th after scoring one.
The Sox batters weren’t performing well, striking out 13 times and not applying much pressure after the fourth inning, but Baldwin’s error helped the Cubs take the lead.
“I turned around and looked at second base, and when I looked back, (Bellinger) was almost at home plate,” Baldwin said. “I was pretty surprised when I saw it, but we talked about it. Next time, you just have to get it in. Go to lead base.”
The Sox led until the fifth inning, although starter Chris Flexen wasn’t at his best. Flexen didn’t allow a run, but he did allow three hits and four walks in four innings. Afterward, Sizemore said, Flexen came to him and told him he didn’t have his best stuff.
Flexen had trouble finding the strike zone (40 strikes, 38 balls) and has now gone 17 starts without a win, the longest streak by a Sox pitcher since Dan Wright (19) in the 2003-04 season.
“Every inning was tough for him, but he battled,” Sizemore said. “He made his shots. He fell behind, but he still held on.”
Expect more errors and fielding mistakes in the final two months of the season as the Sox will try to find games where their regular players can take a break and have younger players take their places.
Fifteen is the magic number for the Sox for the rest of this season. They need 15 wins in their final 43 games to avoid tying the 1962 Mets (40-120) for the most losses in a season in MLB history. That’s not impossible, but they’ve only won 28 of their first 119 games, so their chances aren’t good.
The Sox have played two competitive games since firing Pedro Grifol and promoting Sizemore, and if they don’t want to break the Mets’ dubious record, they’ll need to translate that competitiveness into wins.
“I thought the transition was solid so far, we played two very competitive games,” said Flexen. “The spectators were fully engaged on both nights. Tough defeats, but strong, tough games.”
Part of the story of the Sox’s season is the number of games they blew. One reason they are considered the most losing team in history is because they failed to capitalize on the games they had a chance to win. They lead the majors with 28 blown saves, six more than the Cubs, who are in second place with 22.
“We had the chance, but it wasn’t quite enough,” Sizemore said.
