The Chicago White Sox had last night's game all but wrapped up. Their ace, Chris Sale, pitched eight strong innings while striking out 13 batters. All they needed was one more out against the lowly Mets to secure the 4-3 victory. Closer Addison Reed APPEARED to have gotten just that — inducing pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy into a pop-out at the pitcher's mound.
Unfortunately for the White Sox, the ball was hit really high, which proceeded to cause communications issues with their infielders — who are professionals at catching pop-ups.
Gordon Beckham's ill-advised pursuit of the ball led to the inexcusable drop, which allowed David Wright to score from second base and tie the game 4-4. Let's take a second here to note that Beckham plays second base. The ball was hit between the pitcher, the catcher, and the third baseman. Standard operating procedure is that this would be the third baseman's ball. One thing that is NOT standard operating procedure is for the second baseman to run from the other side of the field, trip on the pitcher's mound, and ruin everything.
Judging by manager Robin Ventura's lack of response these are the kind of fundamentals he's come to expect from a squad that's currently 10 games below .500.
Luckily for the White Sox they were playing against the kings of futility — the New York Mets — who don't like winning baseball games either. The Mets promptly gave the lead right back in the bottom of the 9th inning, graciously allowing Chicago fans to celebrate a walk-off victory.
Isn't rooting for a losing team exciting?!
