In trying to extend their winning streak against left-handed starting pitchers, the Chicago White Sox had one bad inning. The third-inning circus featured defensive gaffes from Nick Madrigal, a failed sliding attempt by Andrew Vaughn, and Zack Collins having difficulties with pitch blocking. Just more poor defensive efforts have been far too common for the White Sox in this young 2021 season. The misplays forced Lucas Giolito to throw 39 pitches in just the third inning alone and allowed three runs.
Again, that was the only lousy inning of the night. Thanks to home runs from Collins, Luis Robert, and Jose Abreu, the White Sox pushed their winning streak to 17 games against left-handed starters with a 10-4 victory. Just one short of the all-time record of 18 straight wins vs. left-handed starting pitching by the 2004/5 Atlanta Braves.
James Paxton was the victim, but his night didn't last long. Paxton was ahead of Vaughn in the count, but his 1-2 fastball badly missed the target. Instead of climbing up in the strike zone, it was thrown low and away. That bad of a miss had the trainers rush to Paxton, who visibly looked to be in pain. Seattle lifted Paxton for Nick Margevicius, another lefty, after 24 pitches.
Despite having all of the warm pitches needed, Margevicius quickly lost the battle to Vaughn by walking him. Then his 1-2 slider against Collins ended up in the right-field seats. Quickly, Seattle was down 3-0 and one of their veteran starting pitchers.
After the Mariners tied the game in the third inning thanks to the White Sox defensive circus, Luis Robert put the Sox ahead in the fifth inning. Again, Margevicius was ahead in the count but hung a curveball. Robert did not miss crushing the breaker for his first home run of the season.
Lucas Giolito had a good night as his fastball velocity readings were a bit below from his Opening Day outing. Throwing 52 four-seamers, Giolito's velocity range was 90.9 mph to 94.8 mph for the night. An average of 92.7 mph was 1.3 mph below what he averaged in Anaheim five days ago.
Nevertheless, Giolito still found a way to strike out 10 Mariners generating 43%+ whiff rates with his changeup and slider. His final line is not as impressive at 5.1 IP 4 H 3 ER 1 BB 10 K, but takeaway the third inning and Giolito's night would have a different ending to it. A big reason why the White Sox must shore up their defensive woes because it is impacting how deep starters are going.
Jose Abreu added more insurance to the White Sox lead by hitting his second grand slam of the season in the eighth inning and the 200th home run of his career.
Game Notes:
- Andrew Vaughn had a good night with his first career hit, a double, and finished 1-for-2 with two walks.
- Zack Collins was 2-for-4 with the three-run homer and a double.
- Luis Robert was also 2-for-4 and walked
- Jose Abreu had 5 RBI’s.
- Yermin Mercedes went 1-for-5, which lowered his batting average to .565
- Another feat the White Sox achieved is for the first time in franchise history they recorded 15+ strikeouts in back-to-back games.
