Chicago White Sox's late rally falls short in 5-3 loss to A's
With most outside eyes already looking ahead to the third and final game of the playoff opener, the White Sox stayed focused on Game 2 Wednesday at Oakland Coliseum.
Trailing the Athletics 5-0 heading into the eighth inning, the Sox put up a pair of runs to cut the gap and then applied some serious heat in the ninth.
"Playoff time is all about momentum and who has it and who doesn't," said catcher Yasmani Grandal, who ended Oakland's shutout bid with a 2-run homer in the eighth.
Grandal proceeded to draw a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the ninth inning to put even more pressure on the home team, and that brought American League MVP favorite Jose Abreu to the plate.
It looked like a classic case of being in the right place at the right time, but Abreu swung at reliever Jake Diekman's first pitch and grounded out to second base as the White Sox fell to the A's 5-3.
"Yeah, we felt good," said rookie second baseman Nick Madrigal, who started the two-out rally in the ninth with a single. "I don't think anyone else would want anyone else but (Abreu) in that position. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into tomorrow's game."
That is the definite hope for the Sox as they look to win Game 3 Thursday (2 p.m., ESPN) and move on to the next round of the playoffs.
"I think we were ready today, we just kind of got outmatched for 7 innings pretty much," said Dallas Keuchel, who started for the White Sox in Game 2 and struggled while giving up 5 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits over 3.1 innings. "I don't know who's going to start tomorrow, but whoever starts, I have no doubt they're going to come out and do their job and we're going to be in a good position to win.
"You can't really say much, just keep your heads up. We battled today and we won (Tuesday), so we have the chance to win a series."
That is true, but the big question is this - who is going to start for the Sox?
Dylan Cease was an obvious candidate before pitching 1 inning of relief (14 pitches) Wednesday.
Dane Dunning is available, but the White Sox might opt to open the game with rocket-arm rookie Garrett Crochet or go with another rookie reliever, Matt Foster.
"We're going to talk about it tonight," manager Rick Renteria said after Wednesday's loss. "We'll have a starter. Whether it's classified as an opener or not, the truth is that all hands are on deck. We will try to do what we can, the best we possibly can, to minimize damage from the other side. And we have quite a few arms within our bullpen to try to accommodate that."
Oakland is taking the same stance heading into Game 3.
Right-handed starters Mike Fiers and Frank Montas are options, as are righty relievers Yusmeiro Petit and J.B. Wendelken if manager Bob Melvin decides to go with an opener.
If Game 3 is close, the Sox should have a huge advantage. Melvin used Liam Hendriks in the eighth inning Wednesday, and the Athletics' all-star closer threw 49 pitches while allowing 2 runs over 1.2 innings.
"We've just got to come back tomorrow and it's do or die," Grandal said. "Our season keeps on going or it stops tomorrow. You've just got to keep on playing our game and we've seen that when we can do that, we come out successful."