Three takeaways after White Sox see their division lead shrink with loss to Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — White Sox starter David Sandlin retired the first 16 batters he faced on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sandlin’s bid for perfection ended when Nathan Church singled to right field with one out in the sixth inning. The one-run lead the Sox held at the time didn’t last much longer.

The Cardinals scored three runs in the sixth on the way to defeating the Sox 3-1 in front of 34,609 at Busch Stadium. Alec Burleson gave the Cardinals the lead with a three-run double against reliever Chris Murphy.

The Sox lost two of three in the series. Their lead in the American League Central dropped to a half-game over the second-place Cleveland Guardians, who beat the Minnesota Twins 9-2 on Sunday. The Sox and Guardians begin a three-game series on Monday at Progressive Field.

Here are three takeaways from Sunday.

1. The sixth inning served as the turning point.

The Sox held a 1-0 lead entering the sixth. Sam Antonacci began the inning with a triple. Kyle Teel then walked.

There was an opportunity for a big inning. But the heart of the order just didn’t come through.

Miguel Vargas hit a fly ball to shallow right field for the first out, and Antonacci had to hold at third. Munetaka Murakami then hit a grounder to first. Burleson threw to the plate and Antonacci was tagged out in a rundown.

Andrew Benintendi grounded out to second to end the inning.

“Got to get the job done somehow there,” manager Will Venable said.

Sandlin, recalled on Sunday from Triple-A Charlotte, still hadn’t allowed any Cardinals to reach base heading into the bottom of the sixth.

He got Thomas Saggese to ground out to shortstop Colson Montgomery to begin the inning. Church then hit a 1-0 curveball to right field for the first hit.

Masyn Winn followed with another single. Sandlin struck out Bryan Torres and appeared to get out of the inning when Iván Herrera hit a grounder to shortstop. But Montgomery didn’t field the ball cleanly.

“He hit it hard, 105 mph,” Montgomery said. “So just one of those where it just doesn’t really bounce into your glove. I had a good prep step to the ball and as it hit the dirt, I got screened off by the runner too.

“They teach that stuff too, ball hit near you, try to make it as hard as you can. Felt like you could rule it either way, but it’s definitely a play I should make.”

The bases were loaded following the error. The Sox brought in Murphy for a lefty-lefty matchup, and Burleson hit a 2-2 inside fastball to right field for a bases-clearing double to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.

“A move there that makes a lot of sense third time through, to get a lefty on Burleson and obviously that didn’t work out either,” Venable said.

Sandlin took the tough loss, allowing the three runs (none earned) on two hits with five strikeouts and no walks in 5 2/3 innings.

“Felt like the kind of things we’d been working on in Triple A, introducing the sweeper more to lefties and just kind of mixing the whole arsenal,” Sandlin said. “It seemed like it was working good.

“It’s good to go out there and compete, but at the end of the day, should’ve gone six and give the team a better chance. We lost. It sucks. That’s all that I’m worried about, is winning and losing with the ballclub. They’re in a playoff race and I’m here to help and should’ve done better.”

2. There was no repeat of the ninth-inning magic.

Randal Grichuk delivered one of the biggest hits of the year for the Sox on Saturday, hitting a go-ahead, two-run home run with two outs in the ninth to lead the team to a 6-5 win.

The Sox were in position for another comeback in the ninth on Sunday. They trailed 3-1, but loaded the bases with two outs. Montgomery worked a 2-2 count before flying out to center field to end the game.

“We are in a fight, we’re going to try to figure out a way to get ourselves back in the game,” Montgomery said. “We did that and it was an opportunity for me too — not coming up with the ground ball, making the error and they score — it was an opportunity for me to do something for us and take care of the game. And just didn’t get it done.

“All you can do is ask for those opportunities and just move on and learn from it.”

The Sox went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

3. The stage is set for Cleveland.

The Sox (76-73) are stumbling into the crucial series with the Guardians (76-74), having lost 10 of 14.

They’ll begin that series with Sean Newcomb as the opener. Sean Burke is the projected bulk pitcher. Davis Martin is slated to start Tuesday. Wednesday’s starter is to be announced.

Gavin Williams, Foster Griffin and Parker Messick are Cleveland’s scheduled starters.

“Leave it all out on the field,” Teel said. “Get our work in and go compete. Guys in this room, we know what we’re capable of. We’ve got an exceptional team and we just need to stay within ourselves and go out there and compete.”