Home plate umpire Malachi Moore didn’t actually call the ceremonial first pitch from singer Kali Uchis a strike, but if it landed anywhere between first and third he would have had he been there. Moore’s strike zone was the size of an IMAX screen for starting pitchers Luis Ortiz and Chris Flexen (the Sox had their hitting coach ejected for debating the issue), though it did mostly shrink back to proper size for the relievers on both teams. Go figure.

That partially explains why the starters only gave up one run each while they were in the game, though Flexen has another on his tab that Tanner Banks let score.

It looked early like a Pirates blowout, as Andrew McCutchen doubled and Brian Reynolds singled to start the game, but with Moore’s help Flexen got out of that with just the one run and then was solid through the start of the seventh.

Of course, having his team score would have been helpful, but the only runs the Sox could muster came from lucky breaks for Tommy Pham, the first a broken bat flare in the sixth, followed by a hit-and-run that advanced him to second and brought Luis Robert Jr. to the plate.

Tie ballgame courtesy of Luis Robert Jr. pic.twitter.com/6YOsoC4wHM

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 13, 2024

The second Pham case of good fortune came after the Sox had fallen behind 3-1 on Banks’ watch. The usually reliable lefty had a terrible seventh inning, though it was a good laugh to watch former Sox Yasmani Grandal, who has spent 13 years in the majors, feebly poke the bat out on three bad-form foul bunt tries and strike out. Unfortunately, then came run-scoring singles by McCutchen and Reynolds, who showed why he’s an All Star (four hits and four RBIs).

In the eighth, Pham checked his swing on an Aroldis Chapman slider but accidentally made contact and sent the ball down the first base line, where it got tangled up with the ball guy (who is part of the field, don’t you know) and turned into a triple. He then scored on an Eloy Jiménez grounder to make it 3-2. (Other Sox managed three singles on the day, going 1-for-8 with RISP.)

That could have made the bottom of the ninth exciting, except Justin Anderson gave up three runs in the top half, partly because Andrew Vaughn made a wild throw to second on what should have been an easy double play with the slowest player in the major leagues having hit him the ball (that’s Grandal, in case you don’t remember).

Three very quick outs including two K’s against a pitcher with an ERA worse than 6.00 in the bottom half, and that was that and the Pirates won three in a row for the first time in months and the White Sox, well, continued to be the White Sox and are now 27-70. Oh, yeah — Flexen got the loss and is now 2-8. He should sue.

The series ends tomorrow afternoon, Mitch Keller vs. the famed Undecided, as all eyes and ears are on the draft instead. followed by the merciful All-Star break.

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