White Sox miscues add up in loss to Dodgers

CHICAGO -- It would be tough to fully describe the Dodgers’ 11-9 victory over the White Sox Thursday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Exciting would be one word coming to mind, as the Dodgers rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the fourth and then the White Sox almost made their way back after trailing 10-5 going into the eighth and 11-7 into the bottom of the ninth.

Controversial is another word, with White Sox manager Tony La Russa leaving starter Dylan Cease on the mound for 45 pitches during a six-run Dodgers fifth, during which all six runs were unearned. La Russa also chose to intentionally walk Trea Turner with Freddie Freeman on second and a 1-2 count in the sixth, having left-handed throwing Bennett Sousa face left-handed hitting Max Muncy. That move was followed by Muncy launching a three-run home run to left.

Not perfect, though, might be the most apropos description for the White Sox, who lost their second straight to albeit the best team in the National League and fell to 26-29 overall. Not perfect, in the sense that too many White Sox fundamental miscues helped the Dodgers claim the series victory.

“We made mistakes and paid for it,” La Russa said. “But we played until the end, which is encouraging, but you still get beat. You want to get beat with a cleaner effort than that."

Third baseman Jake Burger homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career and has recorded an RBI in five straight games after finishing 2-for-3 with three runs scored on Thursday. But it was his miscue on Austin Barnes’ one-out grounder in the fifth, which could have been an inning-ending double play with runners on first and second, which turned the momentum of the inning and the game.

When Cease threw 45 pitches in the six-run fifth, La Russa defended Cease staying in the game to throw a season-high 110 pitches by pointing to his four scoreless innings and his strikeout of Mookie Betts earlier in the inning to hold the 4-0 lead with the bases loaded and two outs.

“Maybe him striking out Betts had something to do with it. He strikes out Betts and I'm going to take him out of the game? C'mon man,” La Russa said. “It's also his runs, it's his inning. There's some tough calls. That wasn't a tough call. You can't strike out Betts there and think 'Boy, we've got a better option in the bullpen.’ If you do, then I disagree."

“Honestly I didn’t even know I had thrown that many,” Cease said. “I wouldn’t say it takes a different toll. Obviously, if there have been 45 pitches thrown, things aren’t going the right way.”

Burger also took a step back in fielding Turner’s slow chopper to third in the at-bat after Freeman’s two-run double, allowing the fleet-footed Turner to beat the throw and cut the lead to 4-3. Muncy eventually delivered the go-ahead two-run double.

After the loss, Burger stood at his locker and took accountability for the miscues with a strong focus on continued defensive development.

“Lost a game today, I take full responsibility for that. I need to be better in the field. It’s just move on and keep working,” Burger said. “That stings. It’s going to be haunting me for a while.

“I’ll be thinking about it every single time I go out there and give 100% effort. All I can do is move forward and work as hard as I can.”

The White Sox scored two in the eighth and added two more in the ninth off Daniel Hudson, bringing pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets to the plate as the game-winning run with two runners on base. But Sheets struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch, ending a 4-hour-13-minute contest which was difficult to completely sum up, aside from the White Sox still needing to be better but certainly fighting until the last out.

“It’s all about guts,” Burger said. “Tony [La Russa] and I actually talked about that yesterday, the day before during BP. You can’t quantify the guts of this team. As long as you have that, you have a chance to get to October and do the things you want to. This series showed that. That’s one of the best teams in baseball and we were with them every step of the way.”

“I actually thought we had a really good chance there, multiple innings,” Cease said. “We don’t ever throw in the towel. It’s positive to see that kind of fight. That’s what we expect from each other.”