White Sox 9, Palms 3 — Off-Day Doesn’t Cure Miami’s Malaise
By Vin Castillo, Miami Sun-Sentinel
MIAMI — The day off didn’t bring the reset the Miami Palms were hoping for.
After being thumped by Milwaukee on Sunday, the Palms returned to the field Tuesday night and looked every bit as flat in a 9–3 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Coca-Cola Palms Park.
Blake Johnston, Miami’s most dependable starter through the first seven weeks, couldn’t locate his cutter and paid the price. Chicago tagged him for four runs over four innings, with José Abreu and Luis Robert Jr. each launching homers to left. Johnston dropped to 5–4 as his ERA crept to 3.59.
“Every mistake, they hit it,” Johnston said. “That’s a good lineup over there, but I wasn’t putting the ball where it needed to be.”
The Palms’ offense actually out-hit Chicago 13–15 but failed to capitalize. Miami stranded 13 men, including leaving the bases loaded twice. Nick Markakis tripled and homered, while Yairo Muñoz added an RBI single, but the rest of the lineup was silent in key spots.
“We had chances,” manager Scott Hatteberg said. “It’s frustrating when you put runners on every inning and don’t cash in. That’s how games get away from you.”
Chicago pulled away with solo homers in the sixth and seventh, then piled on three more in the ninth off Jeremy Jeffress. Nomar Mazara and Danny Mendick each knocked in two runs for the visitors.
The Palms (26–24) have now dropped four of their last five and seven of their last ten, their early-season energy flagging under the weight of a shaky bullpen and patchwork lineup.
“Guys are grinding,” said hitting coach Joe Gras. “You can feel the frustration, but we’re not panicking. We’ve seen stretches like this before.”
Miami will try to even the series Wednesday, with Brian Kragh expected to face Chicago’s Lucas Giolito under sunnier skies — literally and, the Palms hope, figuratively.
Chicago White Sox 9, Miami Palms 3
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Chicago White Sox (1-0) Miami Palms (26-24)
Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave Player AB R H BI BB SO P A E LOB Ave
------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- --- ------ -- - - -- -- -- - - - --- ---
Moncada 3b 4 1 1 0 1 0 1 4 0 0 .250 Munoz ss 5 0 1 1 0 1 3 1 0 6 .311
Abreu 1b 5 2 3 2 0 0 9 2 0 1 .600 Markakis lf 5 1 3 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 .314
Jimenez lf 5 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 .400 Sohn cf 5 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 .281
Robert, Jr. cf 4 2 2 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 .500 Korb 3b 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 .273
Grandal c 3 0 0 1 1 1 9 0 0 2 .000 Wieters c 5 0 0 0 0 4 7 1 0 2 .239
Mendick dh 5 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .400 Pfaff dh 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 .308
Mazara rf 5 1 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 .600 Grant 1b 5 0 3 0 0 1 12 0 0 1 .271
Anderson ss 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .200 Holt rf 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .246
Garcia 2b 5 1 1 1 0 2 1 1 0 3 .200 Koch 2b 4 0 3 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 .256
-- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- --- -- - - -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
Totals 41 9 15 9 3 6 27 11 0 9 Totals 40 3 13 3 3 9 27 11 0 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chicago White Sox 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 3 9 15 0
Miami Palms 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 13 0
LOB- Chicago White Sox 9, Miami Palms 13; 2B- Mazara(1), Mendick(1), Sohn(17); 3B- Jimenez(1),
Markakis(3); HR- Abreu(1), Robert, Jr.(1), Mazara(1), Garcia(1), Markakis(8); RBI- Abreu 2(2),
Robert, Jr.(1), Grandal(1), Mazara 2(2), Garcia(1), Mendick 2(2), Holt(10), Munoz(17),
Markakis(19); SF- Grandal(1); RLSP- Abreu, Grandal, Mazara, Garcia 2, Wieters 2,
Sohn, Munoz 3, Pfaff;
Chicago White Sox IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Cease(W 1-0) 6.0 9 1 1 1 7 1.50
Foster 2.0 4 2 2 1 1 9.00
Hamilton 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0.00
Miami Palms IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Johnston(L 5-4) 4.0 8 4 4 1 3 3.59
Morin 2.0 2 1 1 0 1 3.80
Shipley 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 7.65
Matusz 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 5.40
Jeffress 1.0 4 3 3 1 1 3.72
Pitches-strikes- Cease 93-63, Foster 29-20, Hamilton 14-8, Johnston 56-36, Morin 21-15,
Shipley 16-8, Matusz 10-7, Jeffress 21-13; Batters faced- Cease 28, Foster 11,
Hamilton 4, Johnston 21, Morin 8, Shipley 5, Matusz 3, Jeffress 8;
Temp - 80, Sky - Thunderstorms, Wind - SSW 8MPH
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