Chicago White Sox starter Davis Martin picked up a baseball that had rolled near the mound and tossed it to second base.
Chase Meidroth stepped on the bag and threw to first for what was momentarily ruled a double play in the top of the sixth inning of Friday’s game against the Houston Astros.
“(Manager) Will (Venable) was in the dugout, and was like, ‘Finish the play,’ so we just did it,” Martin said. “Obviously we were like, ‘How lucky can we be tonight?’ But I knew it was probably a hit by pitch.”
The Astros challenged the ruling, and a review revealed that batter Isaac Paredes was hit by a pitch. Instead of two outs and none on, the Astros had runners on first and second with no outs.
The inning snowballed from there, with the Sox allowing eight runs on the way to suffering a 9-5 loss in front of 28,657 at Rate Field.
The Sox entered the sixth leading 5-0. They exited the inning trailing by three runs.
“Just couldn’t get any outs,” Venable said. “They did a good job putting the ball in play. … A good lineup and just beat us in every single way that inning.”
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Following the reversed call, Jose Altuve singled. That loaded the bases for LaMonte Wade Jr., who drove in a run with a single. Christian Walker greeted reliever Bryan Hudson with a three-run double, cutting the Sox lead to 5-4.
Hudson struck out Lucas Spence, but Cam Smith gave the Astros a 6-5 lead with a two-run home run.
The Astros loaded the bases again later in the inning. Altuve collected an RBI with an infield hit against Seranthony Domínguez. Wade then drew a bases-loaded walk, stretching their lead to 8-5.
“It’s really hard,” Martin said. “It’s unacceptable. The tone-setting of the sixth inning was really bad on my part, which kind of leads to the bigger inning. And I know (Hudson is) going to say the same thing and (Domínguez is) going to say the same thing. We needed to all stop the bleeding somehow. But it’s baseball, sometimes baseball happens.
“You get singled to death a little bit and then the bases-clearing double, it’s a little gut-wrenching, but just got to pick yourself back up and move on to tomorrow.”
Braden Montgomery had a career-high three hits in the defeat. Despite the loss, the first-place Sox (54-48) remained 1½ games ahead of Cleveland (54-51) in the American League Central. The Guardians lost 11-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
Friday’s sixth inning served as a stunning turnaround in a game that was all Sox early.
Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti hit two batters, including Meidroth with the bases loaded, during a three-run first inning. Astros pitchers plunked four Sox batters in the game.
Meidroth had an RBI double during a two-run fifth inning against reliever Kai-Wei Teng, extending the Sox lead to 5-0. That would be it for the offense, which finished 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
“We did have opportunities there,” Venable said. “Just weren’t able to capitalize. Today five runs wasn’t enough. We had to figure out a way to score a few more.”
The lead disappeared in the sixth when the Astros sent 14 batters to the plate during the eight-run frame. It was the most runs the Sox have allowed in an inning this year.
Martin allowed four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks in five-plus innings. Hudson, who has been one of the top relievers this season for the Sox, allowed four runs on three hits with one strikeout and one walk in two-thirds of an inning while suffering the loss.
“It’s baseball, baseball happened,” Martin said. “It sucks. The process was really good. I’m really happy with the stuff, with getting out of jams, with (Jeremy) Peña at the plate (in the fifth inning). Getting out of a jam with (Yordan) Álvarez at the plate (in the third), both really really good hitters.
“Just from where I’m at, I’m really excited about that. Now just continue to press, continue to get better and just finish off innings and empty the tank a little better next time.”