See Ball, Feel Ball

It was the single most important at-bat for the White Sox this season to date. Centerfielder Tristan Peters fouled off twelve pitches from Guardians’ starter Gavin Williams before managing an eighteen-pitch walk with nobody out and Andrew Benintendi on second base in the top of the sixth inning last night in a scoreless ballgame. Wait, there’s more. The next batter, Colson Montgomery, grounded a ball to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who threw to second for a potential 3-6-3 double play. Only Lowe hit Peters in the back of the head. The ball bounced off Peters’ helmet into centerfield, allowing Benintendi to score and Peters to move to third base, the start of a six-run inning in a 7-3 Sox win that extends their lead over the Guardians’ to 1-1/2 games. Kudos to Kyle Teel for his two-run double and Miguel Vargas for a two-run homerun. Ditto Sean Newcomb; Sean Burke; Hagen Smith; and Trevor Richards for not allowing an earned run all night. Now, for the brickbats. Munetaka Murakami struck out three times, along with Colson and Braden Montgomery. Colson Montgomery allowed a run to score in the sixth on his second error in two games while a throwing error by Vargas in the ninth made possible a homer by David Fry that shouldn’t have happened. Sloppy defense does not win games. As Tristan Peters knows, heady play does. That, and a good eye.