Considering they were facing a rookie pitcher, as well as a team that had lost 11 straight games entering tonight, the White Sox could consider themselves fortunate to leave tonight with a win. However, it should have been much more convincing.
The Sox racked up 13 hits, but only three runs crossed the plate as they ran themselves into some stupid outs on the basepaths to kill rallies on their own. Yet even with the sloppy play, they’re winners of 10 out of their last 11.
The Sox wasted no time getting to Pittsburgh starter Ian Snell, as they led off with three straight hits. Scott Podsednik singled, stole second, advanced to third on Tadahito Iguchi’s single and scored on Jim Thome’s base hit to take an early lead. A.J. Pierzynski would follow up with an RBI single, but when Rob Mackowiak singled, A.J. didn’t see that Thome stopped at third in front of him, and Sean Casey had him caught between bases. Thome tried breaking for home, but eventually he was tagged out for Basepath Out No. 1.
Juan Uribe doubled to lead off the second, advanced to third on a picture-perfect bunt by Mark Buehrle and scored on Podsednik’s sac fly to make it 3-0 after three. Twice afterwards, they spoiled chances to extend the lead and nearly let the Pirates back in the ballgame.
First, Jermaine Dye was doubled off second after a leadoff double when he misread Pierzynski’s liner to second. Then two innings later, Scott Podsednik stole second, then was caught stealing two batters later. When you add in the missed opportunity an inning later when they had runners on second and third with one out and had nothing to show for it, it reminded me of the June 2 loss to the Rangers. They racked up 10 hits off Kameron Loe in six innings, but they left as many runners on base and lost a one-run ballgame.
The Pirates threatened to take the lead in the fifth when they loaded the bases against Buehrle with one out. Pinch hitter Joe Randa, who’s had a lot of success against Buehrle over his career, took a fastball to the wall, but Pods made a leaping grab to limit the Joker to a sacrifice fly. Iguchi then made a sliding catch on a Jack Wilson foul ball to end the inning.
Iguchi had a tremendous day with the glove, coming up with big plays in three consecutive innings. Along with that sliding catch, he robbed Sean Casey of an RBI single with a diving catch on a line drive in the sixth, and then threw out Ronny Paulino from the other side of second on a ground ball that went through Buehrle’s legs. The catch on Casey’s liner helped save Pods’ skin after he got turned around on Jose Bautista’s flyball to left one batter prior.
Pittsburgh edged closer after Craig Wilson’s solo shot leading off the seventh, but Buehrle and the bullpen shut the door. Brandon McCarthy shook off a tough outing against Houston by fooling the Pirates with his curveball, inducing nubbers off the bats of Bautista and Jason Bay. Jim Thome added another RBI single in the ninth for insurance, and Bobby Jenks finished the game with a 1-2-3 inning for his 23rd save.
Record: 50-26 |
Box score |
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