You almost never can boil a baseball season down to one game, let alone one pitch.

But when I break down what happened to the White Sox down the stretch in 2012, when a potentially great season for rookie manager Robin Ventura turned into a learning exercise, I find a clear turning point.

It came on Sept. 2 at Comerica Park. A 1-2 slider from Chris Sale came in to Delmon Young at ankle height on the inside part of the right-handed hitter’s batter’s box and was golfed over the left-field wall, not far from the foul pole.