KANSAS CITY -- For 6.8 seconds, Chase Meidroth attempted to settle under a high pop fly off the bat of Drew Waters in the ninth inning of a one-run game.
The ball peaked well above the press box in the third level before coming down -- clipping off of Meidroth’s glove -- and then hitting his head -- before running into right field. Michael A. Taylor still had enough time to nab the runner now headed for second base, but launched the throw well above a leaping Jacob Amaya.
Two batters later, Amaya made a fantastic diving stop to keep a hard-hit groundball from reaching the outfield, but was unable to make a good transfer to Meidroth at second for the start of a potential game-ending double play, resulting in a tie game and bases-loaded situation for Bobby Witt Jr.
From there, the White Sox were walked-off in a 4-3 loss to the Royals on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium. The South Siders are now 1-for-5 in save opportunities and dropped to 2-14 in games decided by two runs or less.
“I just missed it,” said Meidroth, who was visibly upset with himself after the game. “It’s a ball that’s got to be caught.
“It’s a tough [game]. It’s one that’s got to be won.”
It’s an incredibly frustrating ending for Meidroth, who has played just 15 career games, and the White Sox (10-26), who played well enough for eight innings to beat a Royals squad which made the postseason a year ago.
“Tough loss, no doubt about it,” manager Will Venable said. “We played a really good game up there until the ninth inning. And just like every game, we will evaluate what we can do better for next time.
“It was up there for a long time. I don’t know. Got to catch the ball, and we were unable to convert that forceout at second base, so, you know, tough play.”
The popup had an expected batting average of just .010 and sent Chicago its club-worst ninth straight defeat at Kauffman Stadium.
“You play baseball for however many years, you see something new every single night pretty much,” Witt said of the play. “You got to watch the game and learn from it. Sometimes you see something you’ve never seen before.”
The unlikeliest of plays resulted in another crushing defeat for the White Sox, who entered the series having won three of their past four games. Chicago had played well enough for eight innings, including defensively -- Brooks Baldwin made a sparkling play in left field to nab Vinnie Pasquantino at second base trying to stretch a single -- but the young club is still figuring out how to close tight games.
That includes Meidroth, Chicago’s No. 8 prospect, who was acquired via trade from Boston in a package for Garrett Crochet. Meidroth entered Tuesday with a .396 on-base percentage and is a potential future piece for the White Sox in their quest to turn things around -- and despite the costly blunder -- the club still had a lot of faith in the 23-year-old infielder.
“This guy is a gamer. He’s going to turn the page and go out there tomorrow and give us everything he’s got,” Venable said. “We’ll talk to him, make sure he’s in a good spot, but he will be fine.”
The mistakes overshadowed what was a great start from Sean Burke, who tossed a career-high 6 1/3 frames of one-run ball to put the White Sox in position to win. He needed just 78 pitches to collect 19 outs and didn’t toss more than 10 pitches in an inning until the sixth -- resulting in his second consecutive quality start.
“I was just trying to be in the zone and make quality pitches early,” Burke said. “You know you don’t want to throw any cookies to a team like this, that’s going to be swinging 0-0 a lot. So just trying to be aggressive in the zone, but making good pitches to good spots in the zone, too.”
But once again costly errors -- Chicago now trails just the Red Sox (30) with 27 errors -- proved too much for the White Sox to overcome. The club is now 3-15 on the road and has lost 14 games in which it led at one point.
“There was outs to get there, and we got to do a better job and convert those balls into outs,” Venable said. “But yeah, really good game up until then. These guys have been doing a great job defensively, so we will go back to work and try again tomorrow.”