‘Just 1 of those days.’ – The Denver Post

The Chicago White Sox had escaped trouble several times throughout Saturday afternoon.

Until the ninth.

The Miami Marlins scored five in the inning to beat the Sox 5-1 in front of 25,793 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Sox were three outs from their seventh victory in eight games.

But then came a ninth to forget, featuring two singles, a double, a pair of walks and a fielding error as a one-run lead became a four-run deficit.

“It wasn’t a good day for us in the ninth inning today as a team,” manager Pedro Grifol said.

With the loss and the Minnesota Twins’ 9-4 win at Toronto, the Sox (29-37) are 4½ games out of first in the American League Central.

They had a chance at keeping pace, entered the ninth leading 1-0 thanks to a homer by Andrew Vaughn in the fourth.

Reliever Joe Kelly surrendered back-to-back singles to begin the ninth. He walked Jorge Soler, loading the bases.

Bryan De La Cruz hit a grounder to shortstop Tim Anderson, who charged but couldn’t field it cleanly. The tying run scored on the error.

“I think I just tried to rush the throw (to the plate),” Anderson said. “I knew they had a fast runner at third (in pinch runner Jonathan Davis). I just really tried to rush it. I just (messed) it up. That’s really what it was.”

Grifol said in that situation the Sox were in the “X play,” which gives the team the option on a hard-hit ball of turning a double play or on a slower hit ball going to the plate.

“He might have been in between there,” Grifol said. “But he made a great play last night (fielding a hard-hit ball in the sixth and throwing home to cut down a runner at the plate) to save a ballgame. Today he couldn’t make that one.

“Timmy has been doing this a long time. He is good at what he does. He works. It’s the way the game is. Get back after it tomorrow.”

Anderson added: “Just continue to keep working, keep trying to get better.”

With the bases still loaded, Kelly walked Jesús Sánchez on a nine-pitch at-bat. Luis Arraez scored, giving the Marlins the lead.

The Marlins scored three more in the inning — two coming on a double by Jean Segura against reliever Garrett Crochet.

Kelly, one of the more effective relievers for the team, allowed five runs (two earned) on two hits with two walks in one-third of an inning.

“They were good at-bats,” Kelly said. “The pinch hitter, Garrett (Cooper), got him 0-2, (he) got a good hit (to start the inning). (Luis) Arraez is Arraez, got a hit away (to left field) and the other guys started battling.

“They weren’t swinging at anything out of the zone. But they put together some really good at-bats.”

The Sox bullpen as a whole had been sharp recently, entering Saturday with a 2.21 ERA in their previous 25 games. Kendall Graveman, who pitched the previous two days, and Liam Hendriks, who picked up the save Tuesday and a win Friday, were among those unavailable Saturday.

Before the game, Grifol noted that he’d like to avoid using relievers three days in a row.

“This is a long season, and the most important thing in this season is health,” Grifol said before the game. “I’m not going to risk these guys’ health and compromise our potential to have a good season just based on throwing three days in a row or two games in a doubleheader.”

The Marlins broke through Saturday after Sox starter Michael Kopech navigated through a ton of traffic early.

Kopech allowed five hits while striking out six and walking one in five scoreless innings. He exited after throwing 100 pitches.

The Marlins had a runner in scoring position in each of his five innings, but Kopech worked out of the jams.

“Today was more of a grind day,” Kopech said. “It was going out there and gritting my way through it. Didn’t have my best stuff. Struggled a little bit with command. Overall, it was kind of falling behind guys and having to work through a little bit of traffic.

“Grateful to put up some zeros and kind of keep us in the game.”

Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara — the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner — had a strong outing, allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.

“Alcantara is Alcantara,” Grifol said. “He was pretty good today. He was hovering around 95, 96 (mph) and when he got in trouble, he’d go 98, 99. He pitched really well.

“We took a one-run lead into the ninth and had the right guy on the mound. Just one of those days.”

()