The rookies storm back for a fun Camelback win, 2-1, while a Trey Mancini homer erases four late runs from the don’t-quit South Side subs

The baseball gods give, and the baseball gods take away. And the more meddlesome gods intervene over the course of just a half-hour.

Around 3:44 p.m. local Camelback Ranch time, Jordan Sprinkle stepped to the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth and slapped a game-winning single to cap a brief, two-run rally.

Sprinkle scored Tristan Gray, who had doubled in Eddie Park (pinch-runner after a Bryan Ramos walk) to knot the game at 1-1.

Just a half-hour later, at 4:14 p.m. Talking Stick time, Trey Mancini turned a stirring, seven-run rally for a 7-6 White Sox lead into dust, sending a room-service fastball from Garrett Schoenle over the fence for an 8-7 Diamondbacks win.

Triumph, and tragedy. Last year we had way too much of the latter, so anything near a 50-50 split is all good in our book.

The win at Camelback was a speedy affair, at least given the 31 baserunners in the game. It was also a ruthlessly inefficient one, given 31 baserunners and … three total runs. The two teams combined to leave 18 runners on and go 2-for-15 with RISP. Sprinkle, Gray, Korey Lee and Michael A. Taylor all had two-hit games for the White Sox, although Gray’s RBI double in the ninth was the only extra-base hit of the game.

At this point you may recall the outrageous percentage of singles the White Sox hit in 2024 and note that today’s 92.3% (13 of 14) is a decidedly higher mark. But don’t do that; the Good Guys won the game.

And if the offense was busy but flaccid, White Sox pitching was pretty buff: nine hits over nine innings (although three extra-base hits, including a solo homer for Colorado’s only run), 10 Ks, two walks, and overall a lot of work in the zone.

More of this, White Sox.

At the fancy, shared Rockies-Diamondbacks ballpark at Talking Stick, things started ugly for the White Sox, got really bright in the middle-late innings, and ended with darkness.

Ugly start: Arizona jumped to a 6-1 lead through five innings, the damage rung up on key staff cogs Sean Burke (two earned in a sloppy 3 2⁄3 innings) and Tyler Gilbert (four earned off of three hits, including a bases-clearing double, in a disastrous fifth frame).

Bright middle-late: Four runs to take the lead in the eighth, courtesy of a Mario Camilletti single and Wilfred Veras double.

Darkness: A dreaded leadoff walk from Schoenle, punctuated two batters later by Mancini’s ball over the wall.

As you might imagine, in this game it was the pitching that floundered as the offense brought efficiency (7-for-16 with RISP, for starters). Five of the 12 White Sox hits were doubles, including one by Cactus League legend Brandon Drury.

Less of this, White Sox.