SEATTLE — The Chicago White Sox surrendered home runs to Jhonny Pereda and Randy Arozarena in the seventh inning Wednesday, falling 5-4 to the Seattle Mariners in front of 24,492 at T-Mobile Park.
Pereda led off the seventh with a homer against reliever Sean Newcomb, giving the Mariners a 3-2 lead. Arozarena hit a two-run blast against reliever Jordan Hicks. The Sox scored once in the eighth and ninth but couldn’t complete the comeback.
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Here are three takeaways after the Sox (25-24) lost two of three at T-Mobile Park, putting an end to their three-series winning streak.
The score was tied at 2 in the sixth, but the Sox were threatening with Chase Meidroth on third and Tristan Peters on second with one out.
Drew Romo squared around to bunt but brought the bat back when the first offering was outside.
Pereda, the catcher, spotted Patrick Wisdom near Meidroth, who was making his way down the third-base line, and threw the ball to third baseman. A rundown ensued and Meidroth was tagged out.
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“Safety squeeze there, so you’re just reading down angle and making sure that the ball’s put in play,” manager Will Venable said. “He just got a little antsy. It happens. But one of those where you’ve just got to make sure the ball’s put in play and then read the bunt from there.”
Meidroth added: “That’s just one that wasn’t executed by me. I was reading the angle of the pitch and I was just one step too far out on the baseline.”
Romo then grounded out to first to end the inning.
Pereda made an impact at the plate in the seventh with the home run, the first of his major-league career. Arozarena extended the lead with his two-run shot later in the inning.
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The Sox scored once in the eighth and had runners on first and second with two outs when pinch hitter Edgar Quero struck out.
Pinch hitter Randal Grichuk homered leading off the ninth, but reliever José A. Ferrer struck out the next three batters to prevent the Sox from rallying for the second straight game after they fought back Tuesday to top the Mariners 2-1.
“Every loss is tough in its own way,” Venable said. “This one, some opportunities where we didn’t execute, moments that we’ll grow from. There’s some stuff out there, obviously, that we’ve got to clean up, and that was the difference in the game.”
Reliever Grant Taylor was pleasantly surprised to hear he was part of a combined one-hitter Tuesday.
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“That’s crazy, I had no idea,” Taylor told the Tribune on Wednesday morning.
He added with a chuckle: “I guess that’s pretty cool. Good for us.”
Taylor struck out the side in the ninth, wrapping up the 2-1 comeback win.
Anthony Kay, Tyler Davis, Bryan Hudson and Taylor combined for the one-hitter. The Sox scored twice in the top of the ninth to rally for the win.
The only Mariners hit came in the first inning, a Julio Rodríguez single.
Kay allowed one run on the one hit with five strikeouts and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. He also hit two batters.
“Kay battled some adversity early and was able to get us into the sixth,” Taylor said. “Hat’s off to him, he was a competitor.”
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Davis struck out four and walked one in 1 2/3 hitless innings.
“Just executing pitches, trusting my stuff,” Davis told the Tribune on Wednesday.
Hudson struck out one while pitching the eighth inning. The Sox scored twice in the top of the ninth, putting Taylor in position to collect his first save of the season. The Sox won for the second time this season when trailing after eight innings. They combined to accomplish that feat twice from 2024-25.
“There’s no quit, always a chance to win a ballgame,” Taylor said. “It was really fun to be a part of and really fun to watch our guys compete.”
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The Sox are nearing the conclusion of a unique portion of the schedule during which they’ve been going back and forth from Chicago to the west.
The adventures began with road games against the Athletics (April 17-19) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (April 21-23). The Sox were home April 24-29 and then visited San Diego (May 1-3) and the Los Angeles Angels (May 4-6). Following a nine-game homestand, the Sox traveled to Seattle. Up next, they go to San Francisco for the final West Coast games on their schedule.
The Sox have kept in mind steps to remain fresh.
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“We’re trying to be mindful of the recovery, promoting sleep habits and supporting the guys with every resource that we can with sleep recovery, hydration, nutrition,” Venable said Tuesday. “All the things that are really a priority anyway, but just an added focus on it.
“(Tuesday was) a late (arrival) day (to the park), trying to capture some recovery. Just trying to be mindful of this point of the season with all the travel, with the game load that individual guys have under their belt. Chase (Meidroth) had the off day (Monday), we’ll see some off days for the guys come up as well. Just trying to do whatever we can to preserve the good energy that the club has.”
