You can count this as a recap I wasn’t planning to write. However, the White Sox are making a play for sole possession of second place in the AL Central.
The day started with Lucas Giolito on the mound for the White Sox, hoping to keep his team in the game. After a few hard-hit balls in the first inning and an early 1-0 lead for the Athletics, Giolito settled down in the middle innings before once again hitting a speed bump with two outs in the fifth. An RBI single by Tony Kemp and RBI double by Sean Murphy pushed the Athletics ahead 3-0 and Giolito to the brink. However, he finished off a solid sixth inning for a quality start that kept the White Sox in striking distance.
The offense left little to speak about through the first six innings, as they were held hitless on a bullpen night for the A’s that turned into a five inning outing by Austin Pruitt. Eloy Jimenez would get the White Sox’ first hit in the seventh inning, but until the ninth, the White Sox had no runs on the board and were staring a 3-0 loss in the face.
Then, the ninth inning happened. After a great play by Tony Kemp to start the inning, Eloy Jimenez left the yard to get the White Sox on the board against A.J. Puk. From there, Yasmani Grandal would walk, and pinch runner Leury Garcia would score on an RBI single from Andrew Vaughn to put the White Sox within one run. After Seby Zavala was hit with two strikes and two outs, Romy Gonzalez lined a single through the left side for the game-tying hit, thanks in part to a tremendous slide by Adam Engel at home plate.
Former Athletic Elvis Andrus then put the game away, lining a double into the left field corner to give the White Sox a 5-3 lead.
Liam Hendriks closed the door in the ninth, and Joe Kelly and Aaron Bummer served as scoreless bridges to the back end in this one. What a game.
With the win, the White Sox await the final score of the Twins/Guardians game. At best, they are 0.5 games back of first. At worst, they are 1.5 games back of first and in sole possession of second place.
W: Aaron Bummer (2-1) | L: A.J. Puk (3-2) | S: Liam Hendriks (32)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
Top 9th: Eloy Jimenez homers (12) to right field. 3-1 Athletics
Top 9th: Andrew Vaughn singles to CF. Leury Garcia score. 3-2 Athletics
Top 9th: Romy Gonzalez singles to LF. Adam Engel scores. 3-3 Tie
Top 9th: Elvis Andrus doubles to LF. Seby Zavala, Romy Gonzalez score. 5-3 White Sox
Notable Performances
Lucas Giolito: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
It wasn’t the best night of Giolito’s career, but I’m sure he will tell you he’s pretty happy with a quality start in a season that hasn’t been filled with too many of those. The changeup looked the best it has in awhile, and with the quality start, he did his job in this one.
Eloy Jimenez: 2-for-4, HR, RBI, R
Eloy Jimenez gave the White Sox both their first hit and first run on the board today.
Aaron Bummer: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Aaron Bummer came into the eighth inning and threw a scoreless inning to keep the White Sox in a position to strike in the ninth inning. In just his second outing back from injury, Bummer looked very sharp tonight with very good velocity.
Next Matchup
The White Sox will ride the ninth inning rally’s momentum into tomorrow afternoon’s game, as Lance Lynn will head to the mound against Adrian Martinez.
The game will begin at 3:07 PM CT over on NBC Sports Chicago.
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Featured Image: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports
Last night’s blowout win and pulling tonight’ s game out with 5 runs in the 9th to go 8-3 in La Russa’s absence show how the Sox are a different team! This cannot, in my opinion, be attributed to coincidence! La Russa is an anchor weighing down the entire team! If Reinsdorf allows him back, that shows that he doesn’t care about the Sox! Tom Hall