CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox capitalized on a trio of mistakes to plate runs, and they had Erick Fedde starting on the mound, but they still came up short against the Seattle Mariners Saturday, dropping the second game of their series at home and extending their losing streak to 13 in a row.
Fedde, who came into the game with a 5-1 record and a 1.47 ERA at Guaranteed Rate Field this season — The lowest home field ERA among MLB pitchers with at least 45 innings pitched in 2024 — Lasted only four innings, where he gave up three earned runs on six hits, two walks and four strikeouts.
His start Saturday also marked his shortest of the season, coming up just short of his start at the St. Louis Cardinals on May 7, when he went 4.1 innings on the mound and gave five runs in what ended up being a 6-5 win for the South Siders.
With the trade deadline coming in hot next Wednesday, it may be the last time Fedde toes the rubber at Guaranteed Rate Field. If the baseball history books end up writing it as such, he said he’s enjoyed his time in Chicago, despite what negative noise exists around the team.
““It’s been great. It’s been a pleasure to work with [Ethan] Katz and [Brian Bannister]. They’ve put a ton of time into me, making me the best pitcher I can be,” Fedde said. “Obviously, it’s been tough. We haven’t won a ton of games. But this has been a great clubhouse. My starting staff has been amazing, just the guys I get to grow with, and I’ve enjoyed my time, for sure.”
Rookie Brooks Baldwin finished 3-4 with two doubles and a run scored, while Andrew Vaughn finished 1-4 with the White Sox’s lone RBI of the evening.
“It was nice. Just kind of going out there and felt like myself again, playing the game I know how to play,” Baldwin said after the game. “Put some good swings on balls and got some good knocks out of it.”
Here’s how the game played out.
Game Recap
Chicago was actually the first team to get on the board Saturday night.
Luis Robert Jr. sawed off his bat hitting a grounder to third base, but Mariners’ third baseman Josh Rojas skipped an errant throw off the glove of first baseman Tyler Locklear, and Robert Jr. reached safely to start the bottom of the third.
After Gavin Sheets struck out and Tommy Pham grounded out to Shortstop, Vaughn hit an infield single back up the middle that allowed Robert Jr. to scoot home and slide around a tag from Cal Raleigh to make the score 1-0 South Siders.
Their lead was short-lived though, as Jorge Polanco hit a solo home run to lead off the top of the fourth inning, followed by Dylan Moore and Victor Robles, who both plated a run on 2-out RBI singles to give Seattle a 3-1 lead.
“Fedde started the game really sharp, ran into a little bit of trouble there. A couple of walks. Pitch count got really high,” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol after the game. “We’re managing the workload with him, as well. He had that big break, came back threw 98 pitches [in his last start].
“Today we were scheduled right around 85 and I wasn’t going to send him back out at that particular time.”
With Fedde’s day done after four innings and 79 pitches, the White Sox brought in Justin Anderson for the top of the fifth inning.
Anderson gave up back-to-back solo home runs to Raleigh and Polanco before recording an out, and the Mariners’ lead grew to 5-1.
For Seattle, it was the second time they’ve hit back-to-back home runs this season. The first time was yesterday, when Robles, Moore and Rojas went back-to-back-to-back in the top of the first inning against Drew Thorpe.
For Polanco, it was his third home run in Seattle’s last two games and marked his first multi-home run game of the season, and sixth multi-home run game of his career.
The last time he had a multi-home run game before Saturday was July 6, 2022, when (you guessed it) he also hit two home runs against Chicago at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The White Sox plated their second run off a Mariner miscue when Baldwin hit a two-out double in the bottom of the sixth, and was followed by Chuckie Robinson, who hit a soft line drive up the middle that was misplayed off the glove of Moore at shortstop, allowing Baldwin to come around and score, making it a 5-2 ballgame.
Seattle plated their sixth run of the evening off the bat of Polanco in the top of the eighth inning.
With two outs, Polanco hit a 1-2 slider into right field that scored Randy Arozarena from second, and restored their four-run lead, which stood at 6-2.
Chicago had an opportunity to tie the contest in the bottom of the eighth, but came up just short.
Paul DeJong singled with one out and Baldwin delivered his second double of the night with two outs to put runners at second and third. Grifol pinch hit for Robinson with Eloy Jimenez, who was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Robert Jr.
The Sox centerfielder watched a 1-2 slider skip past Cal Raleigh to score DeJong from third on a wild pitch, but struck out swinging on the next delivery from Mariners’ closer Andres Munoz to end the inning.
Munoz stayed on for the ninth, and retired the South Siders in order to seal another Seattle victory and record a four-out save, his seventh-such save of the season, and 17th overall.
Trainer’s Room
Before the game, the White Sox announced starting pitcher Mike Clevinger will miss the remainder of the regular season after deciding to undergo disc replacement surgery on his neck.
Jordan Leasure and Michael Soroka, both on the injured list with shoulder ailments, are scheduled to begin throwing again sometime early this week, with Tuesday being the likely target date, according to Grifol.
Up Next
The White Sox wrap up a three-game home stint against the Mariners Sunday, with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. CT. Garrett Crochet (6-7, 3.07 ERA) will be on the mound for Chicago, while Bryce Miller (7-7, 3.41 ERA) takes the hill for Seattle.
The White Sox have an opportunity to match a franchise record 14-game losing streak, which they previously set earlier this year, if they drop another game to Seattle Sunday.