The Chicago White Sox came into Saturday's afternoon tilt against the Miami Marlins with some good vibes. The night prior, the White Sox won in a walk-off fashion which extended their run of good play.
They wanted that to continue and they came very close. Michael Kopech threw five scoreless innings and the bullpen carried that into the 9th inning with a chance to win the game.
Andrew Vaughn hit s home run in the 4th inning which gave the White Sox a 1-0 lead. As mentioned before, they carried that lead into the 9th.
Joe Kelly came in to close and earn the save but he wasn't able to get it done. He allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to come in and the White Sox ended up losing the game 5-1. A five-run inning was the exact opposite of what the White Sox needed there.
The Chicago White Sox are not going to be happy with this series loss.
Garrett Crochet came in and allowed some runs but they were all credited to Joe Kelly because Crochet had to stop the bleeding of a mess. He got the two outs needed to bring the offense back up but it was out of reach by then.
This is a tough way to lose a baseball game but it happens sometimes. If the White Sox weren't well under .500 and had a good April, this loss wouldn't sting as much as it did.
The pitching staff not named Joe Kelly can be happy with how this game went but the offense wasn't able to do anything big at all. Andrew Vaughn hit the aforementioned solo shot but there were only four other hits.
They were facing the reigning National League Cy Young winner in Sandy Alcantara. He went 7.0 innings and allowed just one run on three hits. He hasn't had the best start to the season but he was dominant in this game.
The rubber match will take place on Sunday afternoon. Lucas Giolito is going to be on the mound and he is going to face Braxton Garrett. This should be a good game as two desperate teams try and get a series win.