On Thursday night, all that stood between the White Sox and their 63rd victory of the season was a popup to defensive standout Adam Engel.
It was a play that Engel has made thousands of times during his baseball career. One thousand twelve times in the big leagues, to be exact. In fact, one of them came just two years to the day when he secured the final out of Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter against the Pirates on a sinking line drive to right field.
This play was much easier than that, and while history wasn’t on the line, a chance to gain ground in the division was. Both the Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins lost earlier in the day.
But as Engle ranged into foul territory near the wall, he took his eyes off the ball just long enough for it to drop out of his glove and give the Baltimore Orioles new life. What happened next was all too predictable.
Kyle Stowers, a 24-year-old outfielder who was playing in just his seventh Major League game, took advantage of the opportunity. Despite being down 0-2 in the count, he took the next pitch from Liam Hendriks over the wall in right field for his first career home run. It snapped Hendrik’s streak of 19 consecutive saves in a row and tied the game at three apiece.
“I overran it, the ball came back on me a little bit, didn’t catch it,” Adam Engel told reporters after the game. “My job is to come in and play defense, especially late in games.”
WOW. White Sox were up 3-2 with 2 outs, Bottom of the 9th. There was a pop foul that should've ended the game and Adam Engel dropped it.
Next pitch – home run.
And then the Orioles just walked them off in extras!
An absolute choke by Chicago. pic.twitter.com/TH3WDf8Jfq
— 1st Place Guardians (@OurCLEGuardians) August 26, 2022
The White Sox would have six opportunities with a runner in scoring position in extra innings. But Orioles reliever Felix Bautista did not even allow them to move a runner over. This set up Anthony Santander for a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th.
While Engel received the lion’s share of the blame, Liam Hendriks took responsibility for the loss after the game. With an 0-2 count, he hung a curveball instead of trying to get Stowers to chase something out of the zone or challenge him with his best pitch, his fastball.
“That was completely on me with the pitch selection. It was a pitch I rarely throw in the zone, and unfortunately hung that one, and he got it,” Hendriks said. “It’s never a good feeling, but especially in a game like today where we were grinding through.”
KYLE STOWERS TIES THE BALL GAME!!! pic.twitter.com/iRumHd1PMK
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 26, 2022
There was plenty of blame to pass around. Jose Abreu made two errors at first base, one of which came around to score on a Santander homer in the first inning.
The White Sox left a total of seven runners stranded and were just 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
Tony La Russa allowed Luis Robert to bat, despite the obvious signs that Robert was in pain. He went 0-for-5 on the night and grounded into two double plays. At one point, Robert was swinging with one arm because of the pain and grounded into a double play as a result.
Pretty sure Félix Bautista just made Luis Robert retire. 🏳️ pic.twitter.com/vlj79OnPKN
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 26, 2022
According to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Robert’s wrist was heavily wrapped in the locker room.
“Hurts a lot every time I have a bad swing. Have to deal with it,” Robert said during his postgame availability.
When asked if he considered taking himself out, he said, “no.”
The White Sox had eleven hits, but eight of them were singles. The White Sox only three extra-base hits came courtesy of two players. Andrew Vaughn, who led off the game with a home run, then later doubled. And Gavin Sheets, who went 3-for-5 with a double.
Hitting all singles has been a hot topic of conversation recently. Since August 15th, the White Sox have hit just three home runs, with one of those coming in a 10-0 blowout at home. The offense leads the MLB in singles but has the lowest average launch angle in baseball and ranks in the bottom five in the league in home runs.
On Monday, a frustrated La Russa told the media, “if you wanna say we’re lousy say we’re lousy.” One hundred and twenty-four games into the season, it’s safe to say the White Sox are lousy.
Just need to tell LaRussa to retire. He is CLEARLY hurting this team. They could salvage this season if they acted…NOW….but you can wait much longer.
Again with Reinsdorf it’s loyalty to employees over loyalty to fans. No excuses for the LaRussa hire and the inaction at the trade deadline. Stop supporting this team. You’re just rewarding bad ownership.
Just fire the skipper already…Bears right or wrong are making the right calls now…sox take notes.