White Sox fall to Astros 6-5 in extras
To be honest, the White Sox's game against the Houston Astros at U.S. Cellular Field Tuesday night never should have stretched into extra innings.
Leading 3-2, the Sox should have broken the game open in the seventh inning when Astros starter Dallas Keuchel walked the bases loaded before reliever Ken Giles entered the game with one out.
Giles struck out Jimmy Rollins and Jose Abreu to get out of the jam, and Houston tied the game in the eighth and went on to win 6-5 in 11 innings.
But, truth be told, the White Sox appeared to get a raw deal in the 11th when home-plate umpire Tony Randazzo failed to call interference on the Astros' Carlos Correra.
With George Springer on first base with one out, Correra struck out swinging. Springer was on the move to second base on the pitch and Correra appeared to clearly interfere with Sox catcher Alex Avila, who made a late, unsuccessful throw to second.
The rule book says Springer should have returned to first base, but he could have been out at second if Avila was able to make a clear throw and the inning would have ended on a double play.
"(Correa) was directly in front of me and I had to throw over him," Avila said. "I think, according to the rules, there has to be some sort of contact. Problem is, if I throw normal there I smoke him in the head. Next time, I'll just throw it and hit him, but that's not something I would want to do."
The Astros' next hitter, Evan Gattis, crushed Matt Albers' 0-2 sinker that stayed up and that snapped the 4-4 tie.
Adam Eaton's RBI double in the bottom of the 11th made it a 6-5 game, but the Sox went on to lose their third straight and fifth in six games.
"That's baseball," manager Robin Ventura said. "It does peak and there are valleys. But you've got to battle through it and our guys will do that. Everybody doesn't have it go their way the whole year. You have to have some thick skin and you have to get through it and our guys will do that."
Carlos Rodon was 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in his previous 3 starts before Tuesday. The left-hander was better against the Astros, pitching 6 innings and allowing 2 earned runs on 6 hits to go with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.
"I'm getting there," Rodon said. "I'm getting better. Just give my team a chance to win, that's all I've got to do."
Injury report:
White Sox reliever Nate Jones had to leave the game in the seventh after being hit on the left foot on a line drive off the bat of Carlos Correa. X-rays were negative and he is day to day.
Sick day:
Todd Frazier played in the White Sox's first 38 games, the last three with a lacerated lower lip.
But the third baseman, who leads the Sox with 12 home runs and 32 RBI, did not play against the Astros on Tuesday night due to illness.
"I don't think anybody wants it this way," manager Robin Ventura said. "He's just not feeling good. He was home (Monday), but he's not in any condition to play."
Anderson on fire:
Top prospect Tim Anderson was 3-for-5 for Class AAA Charlotte Tuesday night, and the shortstop is 19-for-42 (.452) over his last 10 games with the Knights.
"I had a national reporter when we were in Texas ask me if we were concerned about Tim Anderson's struggles," general manager Rick Hahn said. "I guess Tim read his mind and has gone off in the last 10 days. Probably put himself back on the prospect map."
The White Sox have long thought Anderson has a major-league bat. His glove is the big worry, and the 22-year-old shortstop has made 7 errors in 35 games.
"Offensively, he's enjoyable to watch just because he swings a lot, he makes a lot of hard contact," manager Robin Ventura said. "I think most of it is going to be if he can kind of assimilate himself out on the field, get himself pretty comfortable out there. That happened in spring training somewhat.
"There's a ways to go for him to do that, but he was on his way to doing that."