White Sox 8, Rangers 3: Offense wakes up late

White Sox win

Bullet point recap from the seats at Guaranteed Rate Field. 

  • Used as the Opener, Reynaldo Lopez started strong, hitting 99 mph while striking out Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia.
  • White Sox had a promising first inning set up with AJ Pollock hitting a single, and Andrew Vaughn walked. Then Luis Robert got caught between pitches resulting in a half swing chopper back to the pitcher. A quick double play was followed by Jose Abreu striking out. 
  • The second inning was profitable. Jake Burger almost hit his 8th homer of the season but settled for a wall-banging double. Yasmani Grandal cashed in with an RBI single to give the White Sox an early lead. 
  • Davis Martin replaced Lopez in the third inning. The Bad: He allowed solo home runs to Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garcia. The Good: Martin only allowed one other hit over five innings. 
  • Luis Robert’s bat isn’t doing much damage, but his speed is still dangerous. After beating out a double-play attempt, Robert stole second and third base. Rangers catcher Sam Huff’s throw to third base got away and into left field, allowing Robert to score. 
  • White Sox took the lead when AJ Pollock’s liner sailed over Brad Miller in left field for an RBI double. Pollock is 7-for-23 in his last seven games. 
  • A half-inning later, Corey Seager took Kendall Graveman deep to tie the game again. 
  • The bottom of the eighth was eventful. Luis Robert singled but was wiped away when Jose Abreu grounded into a double play. Then Jake Burger hit a slow roller past the pitcher but reached on an error as the Rangers couldn’t get organized to cover first base. That error became very costly as Yoan Moncada singled, which is a fantastic feat considering how poorly he’s played. Then Yasmani Grandal drove a deep fly to right field that tailed away from Steele Walker. Both Burger and Moncada scored as the White Sox were up 5-3. 
  • Then the offense didn’t stop hitting. Josh Harrison singled in Leury Garcia, who pinch ran for Yasmani Grandal to make it 6-3. Next was Danny Mendick, who turned on the light show by hitting a two-run homer. Poor Rangers were one out away from entering the ninth inning tied, and suddenly they were down by five.
  • Liam Hendriks pitched a perfect ninth. 

Record: 27-29 | Box Score

Author

  • Josh Nelson

    Josh Nelson is the host and producer of the Sox Machine Podcast. For show suggestions, guest appearances, and sponsorship opportunities, you can reach him via email at josh@soxmachine.com.

    View all posts
Take a second to support Sox Machine on Patreon
Become a patron at Patreon!
9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
calcetinesblancos

Prospects like Davis Martin makes you wonder why they didn’t DFA Dallas sooner.

a-t

$18M

Willardmarshall

Sunk costs are a bitter pill….

a-t

the white sox as a team this year, before this game, had a 53 point (!) platoon split between their performance vs lefties and vs righties. they are the best in baseball against left-handed pitching and it isn’t even close

a-t

As a side note to the earlier discussions about Pito’s future: Statcast thinks he ‘should’ be performing as well as he did in his MVP year. He’s got the best BB% and K% and highest avg exit velo of his career. These are powered by a massively improved chase rate and the best swinging strike rate he’s ever posted. He’s actually gotten better and changed his profile; now, granted, he’s also hitting some more

These changes are, as they say, ‘sticky’. He’s still 35, but a massive plate discipline improvement is an excellent way to stave off Father Time for a few more years.

metasox

Knock on wood he stays healthy. But he has been in the lineup consistently. Needs to give his secret to the younger Robert, Jimenez and Moncada

FishSox

I can still remember the Pito that didn’t have the discipline to lay off the low outside slider, fearing it was a dotted FB. When he’s in one of his funks, that’s still his achilles heel, but much less than it was.

It must be better recognition because pitchers fear giving him that low outside dotted FB because he has such good plate coverage that he shoots it to RF pretty consistently.

Last edited 2 years ago by FishSox
metasox

Sox getting a little of what they had last season with Mendick and Burger stepping in to provide bursts when needed

vince

Jake Burger has 173 PAs in the majors now. Some stats stabilize around now, like ISO. He’s a first rounder.

Might he just be forming into an above average bat, rather than a flash in the pan?