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Series Overview

Result: A’s take 2 of 3
Records: White Sox 12–16, A’s 19–10

You steal the opener in the 9th, then lose an absolutely brutal 13-inning marathon and get handled in the finale. Big picture: the rotation mostly held its own, the offense continues to be just short, and the bullpen logged a ton of high-stress innings and came out of it with an injury.

Game 1 – Late Thunder Steals One (CWS 3, CAL 2)

Story: Down 2–1 in the 9th against Mason Miller, your offense finally broke through.

9th-inning rally:

Miguel Vargas works a walk.

Mike Tauchman, pinch-hitting, rips a game-tying RBI double into the gap.

Travis Jankowski’s sac fly puts you ahead, and Michael A. Taylor’s pinch-hit RBI single adds insurance.

On the mound:

Shane Smith: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 K – easily his best start of the year, matching Ginn pitch for pitch.

Murfee / Eisert / Burke combine for 3 scoreless, with Burke getting the save by blowing through the heart of the A’s order.

Key Sox hitters:

Nick Maton and Andre Lipcius both double.

Tauchman’s PH double is the swing play of the night.

Tone: You finally win one of these close, low-scoring games on the road, and it feels like a potential momentum shifter.

Game 2 – The One That Got Away (CAL 4, CWS 3 – 13 innings)

This is the game that defined the series.

Early: Nick Kurtz’s 2-run shot in the 1st puts you behind again.

Answer back:

In the 4th, Maton doubles, Lipcius singles, and Andrew Vaughn laces a 2-run double to tie it 2–2.

Pitching duel from there:

Mike Vasil: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 9 K. Electric stuff, a couple of mistakes but he absolutely looked like a rotation anchor.

Bryse Wilson: 3.0 shutout innings out of the pen – huge.

9th-inning drama both ways:

Top 9: Josh Rojas ambushes Enyel De Los Santos for a go-ahead solo shot to right, giving you a 3–2 lead.

Bottom 9: With two outs, Jhonny Pereda sneaks a game-tying RBI single off Sean Burke. That’s your second blown 9th-inning lead in a week.

Extras:

You strand the free runner over and over (15 team LOB in total), including runners at third with less than two outs multiple times.

The bullpen keeps surviving traffic until the 13th, when Jacob Wilson lines a single to left off Brandon Eisert to walk it off, scoring Lawrence Butler from third.

Sox standouts:

Josh Rojas: 3-for-6 with the big homer.

Kyle Teel: 3 hits and a couple of walks in the first two games; his OBP is quietly carrying the bottom of the order.

Pitching usage: Vasil 5 IP, Wilson 3, Burke 2.1, Eisert 1.2 – a heavy day for a pen that already works a lot.

This was the swing game: you were one out away from a series win and ended up with a crushing loss.

Game 3 – Perez Rocked, Offense Silent (CAL 7, CWS 2)

Fast start:

Meidroth singles and steals second, Vaughn unloads a 2-run homer to dead center in the 1st. You’re up 2–0 immediately.

After that? Nothing.
Bido and Hogan Harris combine for 8 scoreless innings the rest of the way; you finish with just three hits total.

Perez’s nightmare line:

5.0 IP, 7 H, 7 R (5 ER), 5 BB, 4 K

Allows a Jacob Wilson homer and a Brent Rooker 2-run shot, plus gets buried by the big 6th-inning rally where California strings together doubles, singles, and walks.

Dunn / Anderson:

Justin Dunn throws 2 scoreless but clearly doesn’t look right and later lands on the IL.

Justin Anderson mops up the 8th.

You never seriously threatened after the first inning; this one felt over once Rooker’s 2-run bomb landed.

Sox Takeaways
Offense

Runs scored: 3, 3, 2 = 8 runs in 31 innings. You actually led in all three games, but rarely added on.

Good signs:

Chase Meidroth: on base constantly; multiple hits and walks plus a pile of steals. He’s functioning as a legitimate table-setter.

Nick Maton: a key double in Game 2, another double and some quality PAs in Game 3 – looks more locked in.

Josh Rojas: homers in Game 2, adds hard contact throughout the series.

Andrew Vaughn: the monster 421-foot homer in Game 3 and key RBI double in Game 2; power is showing up.

Concerns:

Very little slugging from the middle after Vaughn – Robert Jr., Lipcius, Vargas and Sosa all had chances with men on and didn’t cash in.

Runners at third with <2 outs were a recurring failure point, especially in the marathon loss.

Pitching & Defense

Rotation:

Smith & Vasil combined: 11.0 IP, 3 ER, 15 K. That’s series-winning quality.

Perez is the obvious problem: another short, crooked-number outing ballooning his ERA and burning the bullpen again.

Bullpen:

When not exhausted or injured, they were mostly solid:

Wilson’s 3 scoreless in Game 2.

Burke/Eisert excellent in Game 1, but Burke gives up the tying run in Game 2.

Usage is heavy; you leaned hard on the same core arms in all three games.

Defense / baserunning:

Meidroth, Teel, Tauchman, Jankowski and others continue to create value with their legs.

A few big miscues (Perez error in Game 3, an infield misplay behind him, and a couple of missed double-play chances) helped extend innings the A’s turned into multi-run frames.

Injury / Transaction Notes

Justin Dunn → 15-day IL (rotator cuff strain, out 4–5 weeks)

He’d just thrown two high-stress, multi-inning relief appearances this series and clearly came out of it worse for wear.

Practically, you lose a mid-leverage, multi-inning righty at exactly the time your bullpen was being stretched.

Tyler Gilbert activated from IL

Gives you a fresh left-handed arm who can cover multiple innings.

Depending on role, he can:

Piggyback behind Perez or another short-leash starter.

Take some of the innings load that’s been falling on Murfee/Eisert/Burke.

Big Picture

You leave California 1–2 on the series, 1–5 on the road trip (Twins + A’s), and sitting at 12–16.

The pattern is clear:

Starters other than Perez are giving you enough to win.

The lineup gets early runs but rarely stacks on, and one bad pitch or one failed high-leverage AB flips games.

Bullpen volume and health are becoming real issues.