The White Sox could have easily given up on their Tuesday night game against the surging Cincinnati Reds despite falling behind 4-0 before they’d gotten an out and 7-2 following Adam Duvall’s three-run homer in the fifth inning.
And given up on the series, too, since the Reds beat them 5-3 on Monday for their 15th victory in a span of 20 games, the National League’s best record since June 10. The Reds also were 7-1 in interleague games.
Instead, the White Sox managed to tie it first at 7-all on a Leury Garcia pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth and at 8-all on Avisail Garcia’s second home run of the game and third of the series, in the ninth.
The White Sox finally broke through to win it 12-8 in the 12th on Yoan Moncada’s bases-full triple that right fielder Brandon Dixon brought back over the wall to prevent a homer but couldn’t keep in his glove, and Yolmer Sanchez’s RBI triple — both off reliever Jackson Stephens.
“The pitch was up and in but I was able to put the barrel on it and get a triple,” said Moncada, who had a three-hit night after coming in with a .191 average in his previous 44 games. “Little by little, the work I’ve been putting in day in and day out, I’ve been feeling better (at the plate).”
Well before the 12th, the White Sox began their comeback as Daniel Palka hit a two-run homer in the fourth, then teamed with Garcia to homer in the sixth. Garcia has a 13-game hitting streak, and is 14-for-30 with four homers and six RBIs in his last six games.
Now, after winning for only the second time in six contests and the sixth time in 19 games, the White Sox are in position to take the series if they can win Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park. White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey (3-3 Authentic Customized Cardinals Jerseys , 4.82 ERA) will oppose Reds right-hander Sal Romano (4-8, 5.30) in a matchup of pitchers who haven’t faced the opposing team before.
Covey is in a major slump, going 0-2 with an elevated 12.71 ERA with 12 walks and three strikeouts over his last three starts — this after he was 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA in his first three starts in June. His last time out, he surrendered four home runs and eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings of a 11-3 loss to the Texas Rangers on Friday.
“I made a couple of mistakes they capitalized on,” Covey told reporters afterward. “For the most part I was throwing good pitches. They were just taking the borderline ones and were all over everything that was in the zone. I don’t have an explanation.”
Manager Rick Renteria did.
“I think there were probably a lot of pitches left over the center of plate,” he said.
Or exactly the kind of pitches the White Sox jumped on Tuesday while getting 15 hits in only their second extra-inning win of the season, as compared to three losses. By winning, the White Sox avoided falling to a season-worst 27 games below .500.
The Reds have put together a string of improbable victories while starting to turn their season around after being 3-15 and 8-27. But this was a game in which they couldn’t hold a succession of leads — 4-0, 7-2, 8-7 — as they played more like they did in April.
“It got away from us late, but that’s a good offensive baseball team,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “Garcia’s a bear to deal with right now and he got us. … But we had a big-enough lead that we should have put it away in nine (innings).”
The Reds wasted a pair of two-run homers in the first by NL batting leader Scooter Gennett and NL RBIs leader Eugenio Suarez, plus Duvall’s three-run shot and a timely play by Billy Hamilton in which he scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on a ground ball to shortstop against a drawn-in infield.
“(But) we’ve been playing too good of baseball to get hung up on one game,” Reds starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani said. “I don’t think this game is going to affect us one bit.”
Romano has pitched well in three of his last four starts, with a June 24 outing against the Cubs in which he gave up five runs in five innings being the only exception. He gave up only three runs over 20 innings in the other three starts.
White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu (sore ankle) is expected back in the lineup after sitting out Tuesday for precautionary reasons.
Any time seems to be the right time for the Chicago Cubs to play the NL Central Reds. After all, Chicago took 43 of 62 from Cincinnati over the last four seasons.
Sure, the Cubs just got done taking two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field, and they’re competing with the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the division. They also took three of four from the Reds in Cincinnati only a month ago.
“To be able to take two of three (from the Dodgers) after losing the first game in the manner we did, I give our guys a lot of credit,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, whose team lost a ninth-inning lead in the series opener.
But as the Cubs and Reds open a four-game series Thursday night at Great American Ball Park, the Cubs — winners of four of their last six games and 13 of their last 19 — aren’t the only team that’s trending well. The Reds, still trying to rebound from their horrific 8-27 start, have won six of eight and are coming off a two-game sweep of the AL Central-contending Detroit Tigers.
“Hopefully we can run off a few wins and make the season a little interesting for everybody (at the ballpark) — and for us in the clubhouse, too,” Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart said following a 5-3 victory over the Tigers on Wednesday.
That would take quite a few wins given the Reds’ double-digit deficit in the NL Central race. But they’ve begun making life difficult for teams with better records than they have.
“As people have said through the history of the game, momentum is only as good as your next day’s starting pitcher,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “We’re just trying to win the game today. You enjoy (winning) … but we will come here (the next day) and try to get the next one.”
The Reds will send still-inconsistent right-hander Matt Harvey (1-5, 5.92 ERA) to the mound Thursday to face Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 3.55). The Cubs right-hander can only hope to supply the momentum that Cubs starter Jon Lester did Wednesday while winning his fifth in a row Authentic Customized Ravens Jerseys , a 4-0 victory over the Dodgers.
Lester (9-2) walked three and struck out only one but limited the Dodgers to five base hits over seven innings before right-hander Anthony Bass pitched the final two innings.
Hendricks is 4-1 with a 3.57 ERA in 11 career starts against the Reds but didn’t figure in the decision the last time he opposed them on May 19, a 5-4 Reds victory in which he gave up three earned runs and six hits in five innings.
Hendricks would like to get the same offensive support from shortstop Javier Baez that Lester did Wednesday, as Baez had two doubles and a triple for his first career three-extra-base-hit game. In his last 10 games, Baez is 10-for-24 (.417).
“I’m seeing the game (well),” Baez said. “And trying to do the small things.”
The Cubs generally see the big picture quite well against the Reds, given their recent domination of them, but Harvey will try to change that.
He’s still trying to gain traction since coming over to the Reds from the Mets. Harvey is only 1-3 with a 5.09 ERA in seven starts with Cincinnati — and 0-3 since last his last win on May 22. Harvey also has allowed 16 earned runs and 23 hits in 21 1/3 innings over his last four starts, all of them Reds losses.
Harvey is 1-1 with a 4.57 ERA in four career starts against the Cubs, but most of their current hitters don’t have much experience against him. Only Jason Heyward (3-for-11, .272) has double-digit at-bats against him.
Barnhart had five hits and reached base eight times in his last two games but is 6-for-25 (.240) against Hendricks. Joey Votto, who hit a grand slam Tuesday, is 8-for-16 (.500) with two homers against him. Scooter Gennett is 8-for-31 (.258).
In a scheduling quirk, this is the Cubs’ third trip to Great American Ball Park already this season, while the Reds have yet to play in Wrigley Field. The final 10 games of the season between the two division opponents will be in Chicago.
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