Sam Antonacci was locked in an epic at-bat, looking to spark a 10th-inning rally for the Chicago White Sox against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Sox were down a run, and had the automatic runner on second to begin the inning when Antonacci worked a full count. He then fouled off three straight fastballs, a cutter and then two more fastballs.
On the 14th pitch of the at-bat, reliever Emilio Pagán got a fastball past Antonacci to strike him out swinging for the first out of the inning.
Pagán won the battle. And the Reds eventually won the game, topping the Sox 5-4 in 10 innings on Tuesday in front of a sellout crowd of 38,113 at Rate Field.
The Sox hit three home runs on the way to building a four-run lead. But the Reds spoiled an outstanding outing from starter Sean Burke to hand the Sox a tough loss.
“I’d trade that performance for a win, obviously,” said Burke, who allowed one run on three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks over seven innings.
Burke continued, “But I’ll kind of look back over some stuff, that mistake to (Eugenio) Suárez (resulting in a solo home run in the fifth) will eat at me a little bit. I shook off (catcher Edgar Quero) there and went with the fastball and a pretty good swing on it.
“That one’s going to eat at me a little bit. Just thinking back to some of the stuff, especially in a close game like that, that you could have done a little bit better.”
With the loss, the first-place Sox (61-57) saw their lead in the American League Central shrink to 2 1/2 games over the second-place Detroit Tigers (59-60).
The Sox were in control most of Tuesday, with solo home runs by Brenton Doyle in the first inning, Quero in the second and Miguel Vargas in the fourth helping the team take a 3-0 lead. Each time the player returned to the dugout after their home run, they put on a pope hat that was the highly-anticipated promotion of the night.
Antonacci drove in Randal Grichuk later in the fourth inning with a double to stretch the lead to 4-0.
Burke, meanwhile, didn’t allow a hit until the home run by Suárez leading off the fifth. He allowed a single in the sixth and a double in the seventh, but that was it.
“He was awesome,” manager Will Venable said. “That was again, feel like he one-ups himself every time he goes out there, covers seven innings like that. Really, Eugenio Suárez was the only guy he couldn’t put away there.
“Really good feel for the slider, felt like we got a ton of swing and miss on a good fastball again. So really outstanding by Burke.”
But the Reds got to the Sox bullpen in the eighth inning. Matt McLain reached on an infield single against reliever Bryan Hudson. Michael Toglia followed with a bloop hit. Elly De La Cruz collected an RBI with a single to right, cutting the Sox lead to 4-2.
The runners moved up to second and third on a fly ball by Sal Stewart. They scored on a single to right by Tyler Stephenson against reliever Grant Taylor, tying the score at 4.
Photos: Pope hat giveaway at the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 11, 2026
“That’s baseball,” Venable said. “Infield single there, then a bloop, and then De La Cruz gets one on the back side there and just weren’t able to stop the bleeding after that.
“Just part of the game.”
Munetaka Murakami doubled with one out in the bottom of the eighth for the Sox, but was stranded at second base. With two outs in the ninth, Quero hit a long fly to left field that was caught on the warning track by JJ Bleday to send the game to extra innings.
“I thought it had a little chance,” Quero said. “But when I saw the exit velo was not that good (97.5 mph). The park is really big over there. Maybe the next time.”
The Reds executed well in the 10th, with the automatic runner McLain advancing to third on a fly out to right field and scoring on a sacrifice fly to center by De La Cruz.
The Sox were retired in order in the bottom of the 10th, with Antonacci’s strikeout followed by two pop outs.
Five Cincinnati relievers combined to retire 18 of the 19 batters they faced.
“Really good upfront,” Venable said of the offense. “(Reds starter Nick) Lodolo is tough. Obviously we were able to put some really good swings on him and then just couldn’t get anything cooking after that.”
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