CHICAGO — For most of the 2024 MLB season, it’s felt like the same old, wonky song and dance routine from the Chicago White Sox. The only difference this weekend was that the Cubs were on the South Side for the Crosstown Classic, and there were over 38,000 butts in the seats to witness it.
In what was their third sellout of the MLB season, the White Sox got back to their usual ways of finding a way to squander a game.
Here’s the breakdown of the conclusion to the 2024 Crosstown Classic.
Game Recap
Chris Flexen took the mound for the White Sox, which the battle-hardened souls who follow along with this team know, is an omen for anything but a victory.
Over his last 16 starts heading into Saturday night, Flexen was 0-8 with a 6.09 ERA over 78.1 innings pitched, and the White Sox lost all 16 of those starts along the way.
The last time Flexen and the White Sox won one of his starts was on May 8 against the Tampa Bay Rays, when Flexen pitched six innings and gave up a one run in a 4-1 victory.
In a fashion true to how the White Sox’s season has played out, Flexen pitched well, but not well enough (or long enough) to even have the possibility of earning a victory.
“[Flexen], he had some tough innings. I thought he battled really hard,” said White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore after the game. “He came to me, said he didn’t have his best stuff tonight, and after four he was like, ‘I’m gassed, I just don’t have it,’ and I told him that’s fine. You gave us four good innings. Every inning was tough for him, but he battled and made good pitches.”
The 6-foot-3-inch-tall righty lasted four innings, where he gave up one run on three hits, four walks and one strikeout on 78 pitches (40 strikes), pushing his winless starts streak to 17 in a row, and eventually the White Sox pushed their record in those starts to 0-17 as well.
“I know the rule of thumb. People say if you make 30 starts, five you’ll have your A-plus stuff, five you can’t do anything about it, and it’s the 20 in between that can make or break you,” Flexen said after the game. “Chalk it up to one of those five, it just happens. I don’t think it’s anything abnormal, just felt out of whack mechanically and [I was] just really struggling to find the zone.”
The only pitcher in team history with more consecutive winless starts than Flexen has now is Dan Wright, who pitched a club-record 19 straight starts without notching a win from May 9, 2003, to May 1, 2004.
Offensively, the Cubs were just a tad less pedestrian at the plate than the White Sox, although both sides benefitted from miscues and cashed in their first runs of the day on questionable plays.
In the bottom of the second inning, Brooks Baldwin hit a blooper into shallow left-center in between Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong that was ruled a single, and Miguel Vargas came around to score.
At first glance, it looked like Crow-Armstrong had a better angle to catch the fly ball, but he peeled off in favor of Happ, who dove for the ball and watched it careen off his mitt as he went to the ground, allowing Vargas to scoot home and score.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Cody Bellinger singled to center before Isaac Paredes doubled to left, giving Bellinger enough cushion to cruise home and tie the game.
The catch on this play was that when Brooks Baldwin fielded the cutoff throw from Andrew Benintendi, it appeared he had plenty of time to make a relay home to cut down Bellinger at the plate, but he missed the play entirely, opting instead to pivot toward second as Bellinger scored with no resistance.
“It got pretty loud during that time. As quick as [Benintendi] got to it in the corner and got it to me, I peaked and when I peaked, he was halfway to third,” Baldwin said, recalling the play after the game. “So, in the back of my mind I was like, there’s no way he’s going to get sent here.
“So, I’m going to look to the back door and see if there’s a play at second. It just so happened that he sent him.”
Noise may have played a factor in what transpired. There were 38,341 fans in attendance Saturday night.
“I think he was just caught off guard. I don’t think he expected the third base coach to send him there,” Sizemore said. “I think he was thinking, first and third, maybe I’ve got a play on Paredes at second, and I think with it being so loud, he probably didn’t hear us yelling four. It was just a missed opportunity.”
In the top of the 8th, Nico Hoerner led off with a walk, and Dansby Swanson hit a dribbler down the third base line for an infield hit. With runners at first and second, Crow-Armstrong sacrifice bunted Hoerner and Swanson into scoring position at second and third.
Miguel Amaya then provided a clutch, two-RBI single into left field to take the lead for the Cubs, 3-1.
The White Sox had an opportunity to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, but like so many times this season, it was all for naught.
Baldwin got on to lead off the inning thanks to a botched catch by Hector Neris on a relay to first, but Lenyn Sosa flew out to Crow-Armstrong in deep right center, then Luis Robert Jr. and Benintendi struck out swinging back-to-back to end the ballgame.
Trainers Room
It’s still unclear if the White Sox are going to get back third baseman Yoan Moncada at any point this season.
“I don’t know. I know he’s been running. I know he’s still kind of feeling something there,” Sizemore said before their game Saturday. “I can’t tell you that we’re going to get him back or we’re not. I really just don’t know.
“With him, we’re checking in daily, hoping for the best and waiting for him to tell us when he’s feeling confident that he’s not favoring it or worried about anything else.”
Moncada was placed on the injured list back in early April with a left adductor strain suffered while running to first base during a game at the Cleveland Guardians.
He is 11-39 with three doubles, a triple, five walks and four runs scored in 11 games this season.
Up Next
After a day off Sunday, the White Sox welcome the New York Yankees into town for a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The White Sox are 28-91 on the year.