Chicago White Sox can’t hold 9th-inning lead for a 2nd straight day, falling 6-5 – The Denver Post

For the second consecutive game, the Chicago White Sox were three outs away from a win.

And for the second straight day, the usually reliable bullpen couldn’t hold the lead.

The Miami Marlins scored three in the ninth against reliever Kendall Graveman to beat the Sox 6-5 in front of 20,888 on Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field.

“This one hurts,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “Heartbreaker.”

Saturday, the Marlins scored five in the ninth to turn a one-run deficit into a four-run lead and beat the Sox 5-1.

The Sox built a 5-1 lead Sunday behind seven strong innings from Lucas Giolito (one run on six hits and eight strikeouts) and big hits by Romy Gonzalez (two-run double in the sixth) and Luis Robert Jr. (two-run homer in the seventh).

Keynan Middleton entered in the eighth with a 14-game scoreless streak. The right-hander surrendered solo home runs to Jorge Soler (his second of the game) and Garrett Cooper as the Marlins cut the Sox lead to 5-3.

Jean Segura homered off the left-field foul pole to start the ninth against Graveman, making it a one-run game.

Graveman, who was working his third game in four days, entered Sunday allowing no runs and three hits in his 16 previous outings.

“The bullpen has been tremendous for us for six, seven weeks,” Grifol said. “Graveman has been unbelievable for that period of time. So has Middleton. Those guys are human. They came in, made some good pitches. Also left some over the plate. These guys didn’t miss them.”

With one out, Jonathan Davis reached on catcher’s interference. And with two outs, Soler walked.

Bryan De La Cruz ripped a double just past a diving third baseman Yoán Moncada and down the third-base line. Davis scored easily and pinch runner Jon Berti slid home safely just ahead of the relay throw to give the Marlins the 6-5 lead.

“I didn’t execute,” Graveman said. “I tell people all the time, I’ll be prepared, I knew the pitches to throw. I’ll give you as much effort as humanly possible and today I just didn’t think I executed as well. I can live with that because I knew I was prepared. There was no lack of effort there.

“Get back to executing and I think that’s why I pitched well for the past month and a half. I just didn’t do it today. They did a good job when I didn’t execute of putting the ball in play and scoring runs.”

The Sox bullpen had a 2.31 ERA in 26 games since May 13 coming into Sunday.

“It’s a tough league, you’ve got to keep making pitches,” Graveman said. “(Facing) the best hitters in the world. Thankful we went on that run, but now we have to start a new one.

“Tough, we’ve done some good things this year, (Middleton) and I, but today nobody feels worse than him and I. I know that to be a fact. We both feel like we could have been better and help the team win.”

The Sox received tough bullpen news before the game, Liam Hendriks was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation.

After taking two of three against the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium, the Sox (29-38) returned home and saw a chance at another quality series win slip away. They remain 4½ games out of first place in the American League Central heading back on the road to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners.

“(Flushing it is) the only thing you can do,” Grifol said. “The one (Saturday) took me a little while. The one today I’m assuming is going to take me a while. But once I got here today, (Saturday’s game) was over, we’re preparing for today.

“We’ve just got to keep plugging along, we’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing, we’re playing good baseball. We’ve got good pitching, good starting pitching.

“We just need to continue to work on the things we need to work on offensively. Shrink the strike zone, get good pitches to hit. We played good defense today, Elvis (Andrus) made a hell of a play (for the first out in the ninth inning) at shortstop. We ran the bases well. We’re playing good baseball. So we just got to continue to do that as a team.”

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