Chicago White Sox settle for AL’s No. 6 playoff seed and will head to West winner for wild-card series
Davis Martin raced to cover first base on Jake McCarthy’s grounder.
First baseman Munetaka Murakami tossed the ball to the Chicago White Sox pitcher, but he dropped it and the game’s first batter reached on an error.
It was an ominous sign for the Sox.
Martin didn’t make it out of the first inning in a 9-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies in front of 31,938 at Rate Field.
The pursuit of the American League Central title ended for the Sox with the loss and the Cleveland Guardians’ 11-5 win against the Kansas City Royals. The Sox will be the No. 6 seed in the playoffs and play on the road against either the Texas Rangers or Houston Astros in a best-of-three AL wild-card series beginning Tuesday.
“Obviously don’t get the division, which is disappointing,” manager Will Venable said. “But at the same time it doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re just so proud of the group and we’re in a great spot. Obviously going into the playoffs. We’ll get through (Sunday’s) game, put our best foot forward and try and win that game and then roll into the playoffs.”
The Guardians captured the division crown — their third straight and seventh in 11 years — and earned a first-round bye as the AL’s No. 2 seed.
“You’ve got to give them some credit,” Venable said. “As much as we’re competing with them and then going toe-to-toe with them, they’ve earned this. They’re a great ballclub that is built to finish strong here. They’ve done that and so you’ve got to tip your hat to them. They earned it. They got the division.
“For us, it gives us something to set our sights on in the future. But for right now, we’re super excited that we get to go to the playoffs and super proud of the guys.”
The Sox never dug out of an early hole Saturday.
Martin allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits with one strikeout and one walk in two-thirds of an inning. He faced seven batters.
“Didn’t do my job, didn’t set the tone, just all in all bad,” Martin said.
After being charged with the error, Martin surrendered a single to Cole Carrigg. He struck out Hunter Goodman, but TJ Rumfield followed with an RBI single to right field.
Martin walked Connor Norby to load the bases for Adael Amador. He hit a sharp grounder that was out of the reach of diving second baseman Sam Antonacci. Two runs scored on the single, extending the Rockies’ lead to 3-0.
Martin exited after Mickey Moniak lined out to right field.
“The error to start things put him behind the eight ball there,” Venable said. “And then some hard contact and we have a loaded (bullpen) there which we though it was the right thing to move on and give (reliever) Noah (Schultz) a shot there.”
Brenton Doyle homered in the second inning to get the Sox within 3-1.
The teams exchanged solo home runs in the third. Goodman led off the top of the inning with a homer to left field against Schultz. Luisangel Acuña answered leading off the bottom of the third against Rockies starter Jose Quintana.
The Rockies pushed their lead back to three runs when Ezequiel Tovar hit a solo home run off Schultz in the fourth.
The Sox brought the tying run to the plate several times throughout the rest of the game. Randal Grichuk popped out to first with two on to end the fifth inning. Colson Montgomery struck out with two on to end the sixth.
The Sox scored once in the seventh, cutting the deficit to 5-3. Batting with a runner on second and two out, Murakami then hit a long fly to center field that Carrigg caught on the warning track to end the inning.
They had another chance in the eighth, which began with a double by pinch hitter Chase Meidroth — who had been dealing with left hamstring soreness. Meidroth advanced to third on a single by Kyle Teel. Antonacci struck out, and Montgomery grounded into an inning-ending double play.
“I think we’re a couple big knocks short of putting a couple across there,” Venable said. “But I like the competitive spirit of the group.”
The Rockies scored four runs in the ninth, including a three on a home run from Goodman, to stretch their lead to 9-3. Benintendi hit a three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth, but the Sox couldn’t complete the comeback.
“We want to win the division, of course, but that’s not in our hands anymore,” third baseman Miguel Vargas said. “Now we have to focus on the next thing.”
The Sox close out the regular season Sunday. But they know more baseball will follow.
“There’s tough games kind of like this throughout the year and you can sit with it the night of, but come the next morning it’s a new day, a new opportunity and we’ve done a great job of that all year,” Meidroth said.
“Come tomorrow morning, we are looking forward to the wild-card this week.”
