Fun facts:
The Sox have been outscored 25-8 in the first inning this year, including 14-1 over their last five games.
The Sox are batting .208/.326/.333 in the first inning; opponents are hitting .365/.427/.624.
The Sox have come out of the first inning leading only two times; they've trailed seven times.
Sox pitchers in the first inning:
| Pitcher | BF | R | HR | BA | OBP | SLG |
| Contreras | 25 | 10 | 2
| .435 | .480 | .870 |
| Garland | 19 | 3
| 0 | .313 | .421 | .375 |
| Buehrle | 17 | 4
| 1 | .357 | .438 | .786 |
| Vazquez | 18 | 5 | 0 | .375 | .389 | .563 |
| Danks | 18 | 3 | 0 | .313 | .389 | .438 |
John Danks had been the only pitcher to escape the first unscathed until
he gave up three runs in the first frame tonight, but maybe he figured he should just get the loss over with already. After all, the Sox have scored eight runs in his four starts.
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The Sox promoted Andy Gonzalez earlier this week as
Alex Cintron went on the bereavement list to attend to his ailing grandfather in Puerto Rico, a move I completely missed.
Gonzalez had 12 hits in 36 at-bats for the Knights, and I think he has the on-base skills to where he could eventually be a solid utility player. The glove's not there yet -- he's had plenty of misadventures at third, short and second in spring and the first month of the season.
Of course, he made his debut in
right field after Ozzie Guillen, down to only two real outfielders with Jermaine Dye nursing a bad back, locked one of them (Brian Anderson) into the DH spot. Rob Mackowiak pulled an abdominal muscle running the bases, and Gonzalez replaced him. This is
the scenario I dreaded yesterday.
Fortunately, Gonzalez didn't see any action out in right. He did get a couple chances at the plate, striking out against Chad Durbin in his debut before drawing a tough walk off Joel Zumaya.
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Minor league round-up:- Charlotte 6, Toledo 4 (10 innings)
- Gavin Floyd gave up all four runs over seven innings on three homers. There was a 15 m.p.h. wind blowing out in a tiny ballpark. Floyd walked allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out eight.
- Dwayne Pollok had no such issues with the weather, throwing three scoreless innings of relief for the win.
- Josh Fields homered for the second straight game, a first-inning shot off Zach Miner; Wiki Gonzalez won it with a walk-off homer in the 10th, marking his first extra-base hit of the year.
- Ryan Sweeney is a two true outcomes kind of player -- he's gone 1-for-4 in five of his last seven games, and 0-for-2 with two walks in the other two.
- Mississippi 5, Birmingham 2
- Donny Lucy hit his first homer of the year, providing all the scoring for the Barons.
- Thojmas Collaro went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and is mired in a 2-for-21 slump, during which he's struck out 11 times.
- Kris Honel had another short outing -- 3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 5 K
- Ryan Wing threw three scoreless innings, and hasn't allowed in run in 12 1/3 IP this year.
- Potomac 13, Winston-Salem 11
- Name a pitcher -- Derek Rodriguez, Matt Zaleski, Brian Omogrosso, Jason Rice or Gary Bakker -- and he probably sucked.
- Aaron Cunningham hit his second homer of the year, and Javier Castillo also added a two-run shot and three hits overall. Daron Roberts had a three-RBI game on three singles.
- Kannapolis OFF