With two outs in the sixth inning of a one-run game, Jose Abreu was denied an opportunity to add insurance runs because Adam Engel was picked off by the catcher at third base.
Two innings later, again with two outs and still in a one-run game, nobody in the bases-loaded situation did anything dumb, and Jose Abreu did his thing. He smashed a two-run single through the left side. His 120th and 121st RBIs turned a 3-2 game into a 5-2 game, and Alex Colomé took advantage of the cushion.
With the assistance of a dropped third strike from James McCann, Colomé had the tying runs on base with nobody out. However, Yolmer Sánchez was able to snag a hot shot to start a 4-6-3 double play, and Abreu threw his body on the ground while keeping his foot on the bag to complete it. Colomé recorded the final out without an issue to preserve the Sox’ perfect record with ninth inning leads, and they now have a shot at ending their final road trip of the season with a winning record.
Along with Abreu, the usual suspects did the heavy lifting. The Sox needed a couple looks before they could get to Detroit lefty Tyler Alexander in a way that counted, but they eventually broke through with extreme prejudice in the fifth.
Tim Anderson broke the seal. After missing one opportunity to rip an inside slider, Alexander offered him another one in the same spot, and Anderson got all of it for his 18th homer of the season and the game’s frist run.
Abreu followed by singling to left, Eloy Jiménez shot a grounder through the middle, and Yoan Moncada scored them both with a line drive that split the left-center gap for a triple.
The Tigers followed suit in the bottom of the fifth off Iván Nova by greeting him with a single and a double. They both came around to score on a couple of outs — an RBi groundout by Victor Reyes, and a sacrifice popout by Brandon Dixon. Abreu made the catch while tumbling over the tarp and into the screen, so the runner on third was automatically awarded the final 90 feet.
Nova completed five three days after making a one-inning appearance to start Wednesday’s game, and the bullpen preserved his 11th win of the season. Evan Marshall and Aaron Bummer worked around a couple of baserunners.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox turned three double plays, including a more acrobatic 4-6-3 earlier in the game that Travis Demeritte made possible by stumbling out of the box.
*The teams combined for 28 hits, but just eight runs.
Record: 68-86 | Box score | Highlights
I love this improved Moncada that is a dangerous hitter against lefties. It’s been a while since the Sox had an excellent young position player who seemed like he was poised for a long productive career.
Ideally most or all of it with the White Sox. He’ll be a free agent in 2024, his age-29 season, and if he’s this sort of player or better between now and then it’s doubtful the White Sox would hold on to him.
That’s why it’s so important to play to win next season. We aren’t going to have Moncada and Giolito for very long. This offseason, right field and DH have to be filled with at least league-average production for their positions. We also will have to go outside the organization to get a proven starting pitcher or two. Also, areas of the bullpen will need to be improved.
Will the Sox front office do all this? Probably not, but it’s what should be done.
There’s a whole lot of “should have been done” in this organization to go around.
Coop said he expects improvements to come and a competitive team next year, echoing Ricky’s sentiments. Methinks they’ve had internal meetings about going for it next year.
But I’m an optimist so take that for what it’s worth.
Was that before or after he started bitching about fans being negative on social media? Honestly, after that, I was absolutely done with Cooper; just another org guy bitching about what few fans remain.
Improvements? Sure. We’ll get Robert in June. Boom, better team. And obviously Palka can’t be this bad so there’s another improvement there. And I mean, does anyone actually know what competitive means? Maybe nerds in their ivory towers but not real baseball people, I’ll tell you that much.
Doesn’t their definition of competitive is the same as ours. They may think signing some tier 2 free agents and winning 83 games next year is competitive.
I really, really want to believe that they are going to go for it next year. And by that I mean signing at a minimum 2 solid bats in addition to resigning Abreu, and a solid starter. The 2-5 bats in our order now are just wreaking havoc on opposing teams. Add Robert, Madrigal and two more solid bats, and now you’re talking about a legitimately good lineup. I doubt that they would sign two top-notch starters this winter. I’m sure they are hoping for Kopech to come back healthy. Adding one solid starter and a Nova-type would at least give them a chance to have a solid rotation. I’m cautiously hopeful that they have a good strategy for this winter. But I was more hopeful last winter. And they they did was get an imaginary “seat at the table”. It’s time for Rick, Kenny and Jerry to produce results…now.
Moncada, Giolito, Jose, Anderson, Robert and Eloy are really, really good. Cease, Kopech and Madrigal might be too. Lopez is good enough. McCann, Sanchez/Leury (choose one, I don’t care which), and Collins are major leaguers. We want to believe. They seriously have something here. Please, White Sox…Don’t fuck up so badly again.