The White Sox lineup card contained four rookies this afternoon, and none of them could be called the weak link.
Tim Elko hit a two-run shot to put the White Sox ahead, Chase Meidroth tacked on a solo shot the next inning, and Edgar Quero contributed a key bit of insurance with a sac fly in the eighth inning. (Kyle Teel didn't account for a run himself, but he contributed a pair of hits, including one that set up Quero's RBI.) They teamed up to support another stout effort from Adrian Houser, followed by a successful chain of innings from a new sequence of White Sox relievers.
The White Sox have secured a series win against the Royals with a chance for a sweep on Sunday. They've also won their homestand against AL Central rivals, since it was preceded by a split with the Tigers.
Elko, who might have a case for being the league's most powerful No. 9 hitter, put the Sox ahead for good in the second inning, and after Michael Wacha struck out the first two hitters. Josh Rojas kept the inning alive with a double inside first base, and then Elko launched a hanging first-pitch cutter over the wall just left of center for a 2-1 lead.
An inning later, Wacha gave up another first-pitch homer when Chase Meidroth hoisted a high sinker barely over the wall in left. It only left the yard by a couple of feet, but it successfully avenged Andrew Benintendi, whose bid for a first-inning homer hit the yellow stripe on the right field wall, forcing him to settle for a double.
Though Houser didn't know it at the time, the White Sox offense provided him all the runs he needed. He's now thrown four quality starts in as many chances, limiting the damage to a Vinnie Pasquantino solo shot over his six innings. He dealt with his share of traffic, as he allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in four innings. He erased two immediately with double plays, leaving the fourth inning as the only one that backed him into a corner.
He faced runners on second and third with nobody out after a pair of singles and a wild pitch. Salvador Perez came to the plate, but on this occasion, the Sox had him trapped in a miserable afternoon. Houser struck him out with a full-count changeup, then got Jac Caglianone to hit a weak chopper back to the mound, and then froze Drew Waters with a 3-2 fastball that home plate umpie Nick Mahrley said clipped the top of the zone to preserve the 3-1 lead.
Houser struck out six batters for the third consecutive start, although this time his changeup did the heavy lifting. He threw a season-high 20 of them, and it accounted for five of his nine whiffs, and three strike threes.
He also struck out Perez all three times he faced him, and Steven Wilson made it four in the eighth inning.
Wilson invited trouble when he walked Maikel Garcia with two outs in front of Pasquantino, who completed his perfect day at the plate by pulling an 0-2 changeup through the right side to put runners on the corners. Wilson survived Perez's first-pitch fastball ambush attempt, fouling off a quality pitch on the outside corner, and getting ahead 0-1 allowed Wilson to use his sweeper the rest of the way. He threw three of them, and Perez chased two of them to end the threat.
Dan Altavilla then pitched the ninth. The White Sox have six saves this season, and Altavilla is the sixth different pitcher.
Bullet points:
*Houser dealt with a brief injury scare in the sixth inning, crouching in apparent discomfort after challenging Pasquantino with a fastball that was fouled off. Will Venable and James Kruk came out to visit him, but left after a couple of tosses, and Houser completed the inning without further incident.
*Pasquantino's second homer in as many days was a strange one, as he didn't know where it went after making contact, and jogged unconvincingly up the first base line before understanding that it was bound for the Miller lite Landing.
*Elko added a double down the right-field line for his first career multi-hit game.
*Luis Robert Jr. looked lost again, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and ugly ones at that.
