White Sox give the Phillies the willies, 6-3

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Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. But the South Siders’ 6-3 win today at Philadelphia being good helped, too.

The White Sox scored four runs in the first inning, thanks to a combination of the inability of Phils starter Andrew Painter to figure out where the ball was going and a wee tad of good fortune. Well, more than a wee tad.

Painter led off the game by hitting Sam Antonacci — Antonacci’s MLB-leading 14th time to get on base the hard way — then walked Miguel Vargas. First bit of luck was Andrew Benintendi‘s 73 mph bloop RBI single, followed by a walk to Colson Montgomery to load the bases. Chase Meidroth then squibbed a 50 mph dribbler too slow to get the runner going home, and Jacob Gonzalez followed with a somewhat mightier 62 mph bouncer that was also too slow to make a play at the plate. Just so it wouldn’t all be ridiculous good fortune, Tristan Peters got the first legitimate RBI of the inning with a double slashed down the right field line to make it 4-0.

The White Sox went the opposite end of the hitting spectrum in the third, when Montgomery led off with his 16th homer of the season. It was just 97.2 mph, so not an absolute blast, but two batters later Gonzalez made his first career round-tripper a memorable one — well, even more memorable than any first career shot would be:

Gonzalez’ 107.5 mph, 428 footer made the score 6-zip in the third, and the Sox offense decided to call it a day.

The big lead was handy, because sorta-starter Sean Burke, who followed an excellent 1 1/3 innings by opener Brandon Eisert, ran into long ball problems of his own. First Alex Bohm led off fourth with a homer to make it 6-1, then Brandon Marsh made it 6-2 with his own shot to the seats in the sixth. Burke then issued a couple of walks and an RBI single to Adolis García, and it was 6-3 and time for Burke to hit the showers.

Never fear, Sean Newcomb got out of the jam and then pitched two more scoreless innings, and Grant Taylor struck out the side in the ninth. If the key to beating the Phillies is keeping Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in check, Sox pitching was perfect — the two combined to go 0-for-8 with five strikeouts (Schwarber did manage a walk). In fact, Schwarbers’ only non-K was a foul pop that Drew Romo made a nifty play on:

• Meidroth singled twice to stretch his on-base streak to 18 games

• Old pal Tanner Banks kept the Phillies in the game with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit, no-walk, no-run ball

• Home plate ump Jim Wolf had a very generous strike zone. Unless the TV pitch box was way off, the Philly batters mysteriously didn’t challenge some crucial strike calls, from two on Schwarber to open the game (he may have thought was too early in the game to give it a try), to one for a K on Bryson Stott to end the more crucial eighth. The Sox seemed to pass up a couple of chances as well, so maybe it was a TV box problem.

Meidroth singled twice to stretch his on-base streak to 18 games

Old pal Tanner Banks kept the Phillies in the game with 2 1/3 innings of one-hit, no-walk, no-run ball

Home plate ump Jim Wolf had a very generous strike zone. Unless the TV pitch box was way off, the Philly batters mysteriously didn’t challenge some crucial strike calls, from two on Schwarber to open the game (he may have thought was too early in the game to give it a try), to one for a K on Bryson Stott to end the more crucial eighth. The Sox seemed to pass up a couple of chances as well, so maybe it was a TV box problem.

The rubber match will be at 12:35 p.m. Central tomorrow, with David Sandlin making his third start for the Sox and veteran Aaron Nola making another try at getting back to the performances of his glory days for the Phillies.

Who was the main White Sox Philly flattener?

Tristan Peters, 3-for-4, 2 doubles, RBI

Jacob Gonzalez, 1st career HR, 2 RBI

The three relievers, 4 2/3 innings, 2h, 8K

Who could have used another cheesesteak?

Sean Burke, 4 1/3, three h, three r, 5 BB