Chicago White Sox drop 7th straight with 5-4 loss to St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of doubleheader
Third baseman Miguel Vargas and starter Erick Fedde are linked as part of last year's three-team trade.
The Sox sent Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham to the St. Louis Cardinals and got Vargas as part of a package from the Dodgers while sending reliever Michael Kopech to Los Angeles.
Vargas faced Fedde in a big spot during Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader at Rate Field.
The teams were tied, and the Sox had a runner on third after Andrew Benintendi's one-out triple in the fifth inning.
Vargas lined a single back up the middle and Benintendi scored to put the Sox ahead. But they couldn't hold the lead, eventually falling 5-4 in the opener.
The Cardinals tied it in the sixth, only for the Sox to go-ahead again in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run home run from Michael A. Taylor. The Cardinals responded with a three-run eighth — capped by a go-ahead RBI single from pinch hitter Andrew Benintendi's Michael A. TaylorYohel Pozo.
The Sox have lost seven straight. They are 4-20 in one-run games.
'Got to find a way,' manager Will Venable said of another one-run loss. 'Credit to the guys for being in this spot for playing so many close games. Now we have to make that one play, one pitch, one hit to get over the hump. We have to keep going.'
Starter Sean Burke kept the Sox in the game early when it could have gotten out of hand.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs in the first. Burke limited them to one run in the inning, a Willson Contreras sacrifice fly to left.
'Just going into the mindset of not trying to strike everybody out, still just approaching the quality pitches, being smart with what I'm doing pitch-selection-wise,' Burke said of the first inning. 'Those situations, if you can get out of that with one run, take that as a win and then kind of build better momentum going forward.'
He did just that, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in 5 1/3 innings.
'I felt good overall,' Burke said. 'Thought the curveball was good today. Fastball felt good. I thought I mixed some good two-seams to get guys off the four-seam. Slider felt good. I feel like there was a couple sliders I threw a little too middle, but other than that, felt pretty good with everything.'
Fedde, who went 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA in 21 starts for the Sox last season before being traded, allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings.
Vargas singled against Fedde in the fourth. Kyle Teel followed with a single and Luis Robert Jr. advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Ryan Noda struck out, but Josh Rojas hit a grounder back up the middle. Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn fielded the ball, spun and fired to first. But the throw was off the mark, and Vargas came home to tie the score.
Vargas broke the tie with his RBI hit in the fifth.
'(He's) deep in the count, taking good swings at good pitches and obviously got the job done,' Venable said. 'Nice to see him come through in that spot.'
The Cardinals evened the score in the sixth when Lars Nootbaar drew a bases-loaded walk against reliever Brandon Eisert. The lefty rebounded, striking out Jordan Walker.
Pinch hitter Lenyn Sosa struck out to begin the bottom of the sixth but reached first when the ball bounced away from catcher Iván Herrera on a wild pitch. And with one out, Taylor homered to left to give the Sox a 4-2 lead.
The Cardinals tied it in the eighth with a two-run home run from Contreras against reliever Cam Booser.
Nolan Gorman then hit a grounder back to the mound, and Booser threw wildly to first. Gorman advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a flyout. Pozo drove him in with a single.
The Sox were retired in order in the eighth and ninth, falling to 28 games under .500 at 23-51.
'I don't think we're far off in these games,' Burke said of the close losses. 'I don't think it's any one part that you kind of point out and say, 'This is the reason why we're losing these games.' There's a bunch of things we can do better as a team top to bottom. A game like that, if I have a better start from the beginning, maybe I'm able to go a full six with no runs. Or that last inning, maybe one or two things go differently, I'm able to finish that inning. Hitting-wise, if you get another hit.
'I don't think it's ever one aspect of a team. Just overall we have to be a little better in those games, and I think now that we've been in a lot of one-run games, close games, the experience with that will help us do better with it in the future.'
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