The White Sox started the 2nd half of the season at home with Cease on the mound. After a quick 1st inning from the righty, the South Siders got the offense going. Tim Anderson tripled down the left field line, then scored on a scorched double by Yoan Moncada. The offense did not have much to offer after that double.
On the other hand, Cease had a good start post all-star break. He started by striking out five straight heading into the 3rd inning. After getting two quick outs, he walked Maldonado and Altuve reached on a slow roller to short. Micheal Brantley was then hit by a fastball from Cease to load the bases for Gurriel, who doubled to score two. He was then able to strike out Alvarez to escape without anymore damage. When Brantley came back up in the 5th, he got revenge for the HBP with 406-foot home run to right. Dylan came out with two outs in the 6th, leaving two runners on for Heuer with 10 strikeouts. After coming in, Heuer walked Maldonado before getting a groundout from Altuve to end the inning unscathed.
Aaron Bummer came in for his first appearance since his injury and was underwhelming to say the least. After giving up a run and loading the bases, he was pulled for Jose Ruiz who gave up a bases-clearing double to make it 7-1 Astros. Reynaldo Lopez made his season debut tonight, after being in Charlotte since the beginning of the year. He gave up one hit and struck out one in two innings of work.
W: Lance McCullers Jr. (7-2) | L: Dylan Cease (7-4)
Savant Leaders
Notable Performances
Dylan Cease: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 R, 2 BB, 10 K, 1 HR
Cease had a very good outing tonight spoiled by a defensive lapse, the lack of offense, and the bullpen’s lackluster performance. He recorded 11 swings and misses, 5 of which came in the first two innings. The knuckle curve, slider and, changeup were working very well tonight and he also had good command as he was regularly putting the fastball in the zone.
Yoan Moncada: 1-for-3, 2B, BB, RBI
Moncada started his second half off right, getting on base twice with a RBI double in the 1st inning. He ends the game with a .274/.404/.394 slash line and 130 wRC+.
Tim Anderson: 2-for-4, 3B, R
Timmy led off with a triple to extend his hitting streak to 13. He also scored a run on Yoan’s double to score at least one run in nine straight games.
Matchup of the Game
In the 7th inning, Aaron Bummer was brought in to keep the score 3-1. He ended up giving up a run and loading the bases. At 29 pitches, La Russa pulled the trigger and brought in Jose Ruiz. At this point, the White Sox had a 59% chance to win the game. Ruiz gave up a bases clearing double to give Houston the final score of 7-1, and swung the odds to 63% in their favor.
Next Game
The White Sox should look to get back on track tomorrow against the Astros and Jake Odorizzi with Lucas Giolito on the mound. The game will be televised on FOX at 6:15 p.m. CT.
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