White Sox 5, Royals 1: Favorable pitching matchup plays out
The White Sox took their time, but they got around to getting to Jordan Lyles.
That’s something they couldn’t quite claim when they faced him on May 9, because while they hung a loss on him, he managed to throw the rare complete game in defeat.
The script looked the same this afternoon until the sixth inning. The White Sox loaded the bases on two walks around another catcher interference on Luis Robert Jr. to chase Lyles from the game with nobody out in the sixth inning, and then Jake Burger unloaded them with a double to the right-center gap off Jose Cuas to effectively put the game out of reach.
Lyles fell to 0-8 on the year, and the Sox raised his ERA this time (7.14 to 7.15).
Lucas Giolito faced similar threats over the course of his six innings, but the only damage he suffered was a Salvador Perez solo shot on a hanging slider in the first inning. Perez went 3-for-3 off Giolito, as he seemed to drag all of Giolito’s pitches back toward the center of the zone, but the White Sox’s run-prevention unit suppressed everybody else.
The defense stepped up early. Seby Zavala cut down Bobby Witt Jr. at second base on a SHOTHO preceding Perez’s first-inning homer, Yoán Moncada and Andrew Vaughn executed a 5-3-5 double play when Nick Pratto tried to advance to third on Moncada’s long throw across the diamond in the second, and Adam Haseley laid out for a diving catch on Michael Massey, showing what the Sox have been missing when they’ve played first basemen in right field all this time.
Giolito had to step up later. He got tangled in some long at-bats and deep counts with runners on, but he never caved, twice stranding runner on third with inning-ending strikeouts.
Pedro Grifol went with a quicker hook than he’d shown over the past week, lifting Giolito after six innings and 89 pitches. He threw most of those pitches with a one-run lead. The Sox scored two quick runs off Lyles in the first on three straight one-out hits — an Andrew Benintendi single, a bloop double inside the left-field line by Luis Robert Jr., and a two-run single by Yoán Moncada. Lyles then retired the next 10 batters to make a game of it.
The Sox scored three after Giolito threw his final pitch, and the long rest might’ve contributed to the decision to go to the bullpen, too.
Garrett Crochet wobbled in his first appearance protecting a lead, but Reynaldo López stranded two runners to close out the seventh, while Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman pitched a perfect eighth and ninth.
Bullet points:
*Robert recorded an outfield assist at second base on what should’ve been a bloop single by Edward Olivares in the seventh, because Freddy Fermin thought Robert was going to track it down and initially retreated to first. That gave López some footing when the bases should’ve been loaded with one out.
*Tim Anderson went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and three ground balls, two of which turned into double plays. He shouldn’t be a fixture in the leadoff spot while his knee is bothering him.
*The Royals were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Record: 18-29 | Box score | Statcast
Fun baseball. More please.
The bullpen is showing signs of being very, very good. Kelly and Graveman have been great lately. The pen will be very deep when Liam comes back next week. No reason to keep the starters in too long in the future. Don’t stop now boys!!
Good win even if it isn’t against the 27 Yankees. Tomorrow’s game might be their biggest game of the year to date. Because they go into Cleveland for their next series. If they win, they go in on a roll. The hole they dug for themselves is almost to deep to get out of. However, the division is so weak, it is actually possible to get back into this thing. Possible, but maybe not probable . Hope is a wonderful thing! If Anderson is hurt, pull him out. Today was certainly not a showcase of his talents. Trade speculation for this team is all over the internet. Id say the next 2 or 3 weeks will lay it all out for this teams next major moves. Hopefully they add talent. Hopefully!
They have a great opportunity over the next 2 weeks to get right back in this division race.
A lot of Detroit and Cleveland on the calendar.
Detroit isn’t an easy team. Although they are being carried by a scorching hot bat of Riley Greene who is turning out to be a fantastic outfielder. Just 22 years old. Hit from the left side.
I didn’t mean that they were bad, I just meant that they have a lot of games against the two teams directly ahead of them in the division.
This will be hard to sustain without TA. The guy needs an intervention, if the knee is the problem then put him on the shelf until there are no excuses. No one is giving him anything to hit and he swings at 80% of the pitches. He could work two BB’s per game just because his name is TA, but he is addicted to swinging at everything. Sub .600 OPS is unplayable. He’s making Lenny Sosa look viable.
DVS says Clint Frazier is up for tomorrow’s game (see MLBTR). I’m interested to see the corresponding move(s), and what Frazier looks like in Chicago.
If I had to speculate I’d guess that Sheets’s wrist is worse than first thought.
mlbtr has the same speculation:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/white-sox-to-select-clint-frazier-for-sundays-game.html
Tim Anderson to the IL NOW. They can get this production from any number of their bums…a healthy Anderson could actually do things.
This was only the 4th win this season accomplished without a HR.
My bad. Since this was posted today I thought it was about today’s game.
No my bad, I had wrote it this morning but I forgot to click Post Comment before I moved on to my day.