White Sox 6, Brewers 1: Matt Albers breaks again

The third and final game between the White Sox and Brewers confirmed what the first two games suggested. If the Brewers’ first move out of the bullpen was Josh Hader, the Sox could pack it up and hope for better luck tomorrow. If Craig Counsell instead called for former Sox, they had a chance.

Sure enough, the White Sox lit up Matt Albers and Dan Jennings for the second time in as many chances, and they stole an unlikely series victory because of it.

Daniel Palka delivered the big blow in the sixth, coming off the bench and crushing a 433-foot two-run shot off Albers to give the Sox a 3-1 lead. Adam Engel made it back-to-back by riding the jet stream by the slimmest of margins over the wall in right. How slim? The ball it the top of the padding and probably would have fallen back into fair territory had Lorenzo Cain’s glove not slapped it over the other side.

That gave the Sox a 4-1 lead, and RBI doubles by Jose Abreu and Adam Engel against Dan Jennings in the eighth put it out of save territory.

Palka’s at-bat was a sorely needed sledgehammer after the White Sox were able to chisel their way to a tie the inning before. They spent the first four innings getting high-cuttered to death by Brent Suter before getting wiser to it in the fifth.

Yoan Moncada reached with a one-out walk, and so did Charlie Tilson two batters later, winning a nine-pitch battle. When Suter lowered his aim to find the strike zone against Alfredo Gonzalez with his first pitch, Gonzalez pulled it past a lunging Orlando Arcia for his first career hit and RBI, tying the game at 1.

Yolmer Sanchez then chased Suter from the game after muscling a high fastball in between second, center and right for a leadoff single in the sixth. Albers came in and retired Abreu with a popup, but he couldn’t put Palka away. Palka brought the battle to a full count after falling behind 1-2, and Albers slipped on the seventh pitch.

Chris Volstad picked up the win even though he didn’t retire a batter, as Gonzalez gunned down Jonathan Villar at second. (It held up under replay, although had Villar been called safe, that call would have stood, too.)

Dylan Covey departed with a no-decision, but his start found middle ground between his gem against Baltimore and his hard-luck/work outing against Cleveland. He allowed four hits and three walks over five innings, and departed after the first batter in the sixth with a pitch count of 97, but limited the damage to one unearned run thanks to seven strikeouts.

Covey made pitches when he needed to. The Brewers were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position on the day, and 0-for-3 in the fifth inning alone, just when it looked like a Cleveland-type relapse.

The Brewers loaded the bases on a single, a perfect hit-and-run and a walk, all with one out. Covey then got Christian Yelich to bounce to third. Sanchez came in to try to smother the short hop but couldn’t glove it. He was charged with the error, if only because he didn’t need to handle it so aggressively with a catcher on third base.

Fortunately, that was the only fifth-inning error committed by the Sox, although Covey didn’t need much help. He got Jesus Aguilar to pop up for the second out, then struck out Travis Shaw with a high slider after just missing with a changeup the pitch before.

Covey fared well enough to warrant another look, which is good timing on his part. Carlos Rodon struck out eight over five innings and 92 pitches for Charlotte this afternoon. Perhaps Covey won’t be the one to lose out with Rodon’s return.

Bullet points:

*Engel hiked his OPS over .600 by going 2-for-4 with the homer and double.

*The White Sox took two out of three from the best team in the National League with Jose Rondon batting fourth and Engel fifth.

*Back in 2015, the Brewers beat the White Sox 10-7 thanks to a couple homers off their former reliever, Zach Duke. Duke’s ERA shot up from 1.26 to .300, and he wasn’t right for a month after that.

Record: 18-38 | Box score

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L2R

nice to see a series victory. hope they can build off of it. come on jimenez and kopech keep up the good news.

ParisSox

“*The White Sox took two out of three from the best team in the National League with Jose Rondon batting fourth and Engel fifth.”

LOLZ.  It’s going to be fun to look back at this series in the future.   

Milky✌️

With Davidson out, I’m glad we have another surprise unveiling: Dylan Covey, Cromulent Starter

lil jimmy

If only we had a cromulent Covey of starter Quail.

KenWo4LiFe

Give me Palka Power over Davidson. I’m a fan. Burn his glove and put him at DH for the next 5 years.

gibby32

For a while, they can platoon, with an occasional start somewhere. I am a Pakla fan also; he swings like he means it.

L2R

put his glove on graigslist. Actual MLB glove, 2 years old but LN.

joewho112

I’ve been to 2 games this year. Engel is 6 for 8 with 2 home runs in those games. Think he’ll buy me season tickets?

Lurker Laura

I was on a streak one year wherein Frank Thomas hit a home run every time I was at a game for like 6 straight games. Sure, Frank’s a HOFer, but I’m pretty sure he owes me money for that.

Reindeer Games

I’m convinced Dylan Palka pitched awesome because, his biggest fan (me) was in attendance. It’s Daniel Covey’s world and we’re all just living in it.

joewho112

And I was at both of Covey’s good starts. The team needs me on the payroll