The White Sox pitching staff had to work a whole lot harder than its counterpart, but at least it was worth it.
Garrett Crochet grunted his way through five innings, and Michael Kopech needed 33 pitches in the ninth, but despite the aesthetics, the result was a series victory by way of a second consecutive shutout. The White Sox have won two consecutive series, and six out of their last eight.
White Sox pitchers combined to throw 155 pitches over nine innings, while the Nationals threw 107 over eight, but the White Sox offense managed to scratch across a couple of runs, while the Nats went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The White Sox outhit the Nationals 9-3, an advantage they nearly squandered with three double plays, including a pair of lineouts on attempted hit-and-runs. But they were able to sequence them together successfully in two different innings, which proved to be more than enough.
In the third, Zach Remillard drew a random four-pitch walk to open the inning, and while he was replaced by Braden Shewmake on a fielder's choice, Tommy Pham capitalized all the same. He shot a double into the left-field corner, which Ildemaro Vargas booted to give Pham an extra 90 feet while Shewmake scored. The Sox didn't take advantage of the generosity, as Andrew Vaughn grounded out, and two batters later, Paul DeJong popped out.
In the sixth, Andrew Benintendi kept the inning alive with a two-out double that chased Patrick Corbin from the game, and Korey Lee greeted Derek Law with a first-pitch single to make it a 2-0 game.
That was sufficient for Crochet, who threw 26 pitches to four batters in the first inning to signal a struggle, but ultimately settled in well enough to get through five. It wasn't his easiest outing, but he managed to escape time and time again.
In the second, Remillard maxed out his vertical to make a leaping grab on a Victor Robles line drive to strand a runner at second. An inning later, Crochet loaded the bases with a pair of two-out walks, but won a seven-pitch battle against Keibert Ruiz by getting him to swing over the top of a full-count cutter. He worked around a leadoff walk in the fourth, but he ended on a high note with a 1-2-3 fifth, his only clean inning of the game.
Jared Shuster, who was warming earlier in the game during Crochet's inefficiency, handled the sixth and seventh, sparing Paul DeJong grief for a leadoff error in the sixth, and Jordan Leasure needed only nine pitches in the eighth. Kopech threw nearly four times as many pitches to get through the ninth, as he once again issued two walks. The Nats called for CJ Abrams to pinch hit as the potential go-ahead run, but while he was a hair early on a cutter he smashed foul deep down the right field line, Kopech ended up getting him to fly out to left for the save.
Bullet points:
*Lee went 3-for-3 with a stolen base and caught a shutout. If there was one wart, the Nats went 3-for-3 in basestealing.
*Crochet now holds the White Sox record for most strikeouts through 10 starts with 70, Sarah Langs notes. The mark was previously held by Chris Sale, who struck out 68.
