If the White Sox were hung over from celebrating their postseason clincher Thursday night, they didn't show it.Or maybe there's built-in forgiveness facing the Rockies.
Either way, the White Sox took the lead in the first inning with a Miguel Vargas sac fly and the first of two Munetaka Murakami homers, and Sean Burke and three White Sox relievers went wire-to-wire with it for their fifth victory in their last six games. The only problem is that the Guardians have done the same, but the White Sox are controlling what they can control, starting with tonight's game.
Tomoyuki Sugano wouldn't quite let the White Sox take a stranglehold of this game, but the Sox did enough damage off him early and late. After TJ Rumfield won a 10-pitch battle off Burke by roping a slider just over the wall in right to halve the White Sox's two-run lead in the second, the White Sox answered with another sac fly in the third to restore that margin.
Although the Rockies kept it close enough to press the White Sox's high-leverage relievers into action, they never narrowed the gap again.
Burke got the game through 5 ⅓ innings, but left after Hunter Goodman doubled off the left-center wall to bring Rumfield to the plate. Rumfield had two of Colorado's four hits off Burke, so Will Venable went to the bullpen for Hagen Smith. He retired Rumfield, and while a passed ball by Kyle Teel and a walk to Kyle Karros elevated the drama, he summoned enough control to throw Cole Carrigg five straight strikes on a full count, eventually getting him to swing through a fastball away for strike three.
Grant Taylor then entered in the seventh for two innings of relief, and they were exceptionally easy ones. He retired all six batters he faced on just 17 pitches, including a five-pitch eighth. Meanwhile, the White Sox offense understood the assignment, expanding the lead so the ninth inning would offer fewer demands for a wider selection of relievers.
Murakami homered off Sugano again in the seventh, this time the other way, to make it a 4-1 game. In the eighth, the Sox greeted Brennan Bernardino with three singles -- an infield one by Braden Montgomery, an outfield one by Sam Antonacci, and a single through the middle by Kyle Teel after he squared around multiple times. Vargas' second bid for a sac fly came up shallow, but Murakami picked him up with an RBI single to right, for his third hit and third run driven in.
Teel had an interesting night, in the sense that it appeared that he compensated for last night's revelries with a 10-Hour Energy. He was all over the place, for better or for worse.
In the first, his attempt at a bunt single turned into a 1-6 forceout, but Teel ended up scoring while diving into every base on the way. He hit first on a pickoff attempt, second while advancing on a wild pitch, third after Goodman's throw went into center, and home on Vargas' sac fly. It was an aggressive send by Justin Jirschele, but Jake McCarthy bobbled the ball in center and the pressure paid off.
Behind the plate, Teel had the passed ball and almost had two, he lost two of three challenges, caught a popup near home plate after first running to the front of the mound, and threw to third thinking the second out was the third out, nearly sailing the ball into left field with a runner on second in the process.
When it came time to settle the tab, though, he drove in more runs (two) than the Rockies scored (one), so although he was practically pulsating, he kept it together well enough.
Bullet points:
*Colson Montgomery struck out looking in his second trip to set the single season MLB strikeout record with 224. It was his 58th backwards K.
*Burke, Smith, Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson combined for a sterling line: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K.
*Murakami and Teel are heating up at the right time, because Andrew Benintendi was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and Colson Montgomery went hitless as well.
