SEATTLE — Chicago White Sox left fielder Tristan Peters quickly retrieved Seattle Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena’s double and made a strong relay throw to shortstop Colson Montgomery, who in turned fired home in plenty of time to get Jhonny Pereda for what appeared to be the final out of the third inning.
But after a lengthy discussion, the umpires ruled that second baseman Sam Antonacci obstructed Pereda when the Mariners catcher was on his way to third base. As a result, Pereda was ruled safe and a run scored.
Sox manager Will Venable argued the call and was ejected.
“I obviously didn’t agree with that call,” Venable said. “Obviously there was obstruction there, and you get some protection. But when you’re thrown out by 30 feet, it’s not supposed to protect you like that, and they disagreed with that.”
Venable was not in the dugout for the rest of Monday’s 6-1 loss to the Mariners in front of 31,409 at T-Mobile Park.
Sox starter Noah Schultz allowed three runs on five hits with six strikeouts and no walks over 5 1/3 innings in the loss.
“A couple of pitches I wish I had back, but I definitely think a good step in the right direction,” Schultz said.
The Sox fell behind 1-0 on a home run by Julio Rodríguez during an eight-pitch battle in the first inning.
The Sox had a scoring opportunity in the top of the third, when consecutive singles by Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami gave the team runners on first and third with one out. Mariners starter Bryan Woo struck out Miguel Vargas and Montgomery.
And then came the bottom of the third, which featured a couple of umpire rulings.
Pereda was on first with one out when Rodríguez hit a low liner to Antonacci. Antonacci dropped the ball, and tossed it to Montgomery at second base to start what would have been an inning-ending double play. But the umpires ruled it a catch by Antonacci and Pereda remained at first.
“I was just trying to get kind of like a ground ball called there and be able to turn two,” Antonacci said. “But in the moment, it was probably hit hard enough to where I could have got him at first. I don’t know. I’ll have to go look at the video, but just trying to help Schultz out in that situation and make something happen.”
Arozarena’s double, and the obstruction call, followed to extend Seattle’s lead to 2-0.
“Just a bad play on my end,” Antonacci said. “To be honest, just didn’t know where I was supposed to be. It’s something that I have to go to bed tonight knowing. Something to get better at, especially just being in left field — you know, you can easily make an excuse for it, but there’s no excuse for that.
“Right when I was hit, I was kind of in between on covering second and then having a double cut there, and should have been a double cut. So it’s just inexcusable. I’ve just got to be there. And ultimately, it made Schultz’s ERA go up, which is a hard pill to swallow on my end.”
Antonacci called it a “smart play” on Pereda’s part.
“If I was on the bases, I’d do it too,” Antonacci said.
Antonacci also said that being thrown out in the first inning while trying to go from first to third on a walk by Murakami was a moment of “something to learn off of.”
Trailing 3-0 in the seventh, the Sox attempted a comeback. Peters began the charge with a home run to right, cutting the deficit to 3-1. It was the second straight game with a homer for Peters, who hit his first career major-league home run in the eighth inning on Sunday against the Cubs.
Drew Romo singled and Chase Meidroth walked, but Mariners reliever José A. Ferrer got pinch hitter Randal Grichuk to fly out to Rodríguez in center field to end the threat.
Mariners third baseman Colt Emerson connected for a three-run homer in the eighth, his first major-league hit, to put the game out of reach.
The Sox (24-23) struck out 11 times, eight against Woo, in the loss.
“We really didn’t get a ton to hit and expanded above the zone on the fastball and below it with the slider,” Venable said. “Got to credit Woo though, that guy’s as good as they come.”
