It was a close game late into the day, but the White Sox’ bullpen unraveled late and let Boston run away with the game. After scoring two runs in the first inning, the White Sox could only muster a Yoan Moncada sacrifice fly in the next eight innings. Codi Heuer struggled in his second inning of work on the day, and Jose Ruiz wasn’t much better in relief, and the Red Sox tallied four late runs – including a go-ahead Marwin Gonzalez home run – to drop the White Sox to 6-8 on the season.
W: Adam Ottavino (2-1) | L: Codi Heuer (1-1)
Savant Leaders
Notable Performances
Dylan Cease: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 11 Swinging Strikes
Dylan Cease continued to show improvement today, though a quick hook and some unfortunate missed calls leads his stat line to look worse than his actual performance. His 28% Whiff % on his fastball and 33% Whiff % on his slider both show continued improvement over his 2020 season, but he continues to struggle with getting strike one. However, he has a 65% strike % today – he continues to look better than his box scores show. However, having thrown just 85 pitches when he was pulled, I would’ve liked to see him work deeper. It’s a long season though, and Cease continues to improve.
Adam Eaton: 1-for-3, 2B, RBI, 2BB, 1 K
Adam Eaton struggled for most of this game, but added an RBI double in the ninth to bring the game to a three-run deficit. He also made a great play in the early-going today to rob Rafael Devers of a home run. Eaton continues to be a force at the top of the lineup.
Jose Abreu: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, K
Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada switched places in the batting order today, and both looked pretty good. Abreu was able to put a couple hits on the board, including an RBI in the first inning.
Luis Robert: 2-for-4, 2 1B, K
Luis Robert continues to improve the quality of his at-bats, adding another two hits to the ledger and raising his season OPS to .803 in the process. The improvement continues for the young centerfielder.
Matchup of the Game
Codi Heuer had been dealing through the first three batters he faced, and after striking out the side in the seventh, he came back out to start the eighth. Unfortunately, he would not have the same success with Martin Gonzalez, who ripped a 1-1 sinker into the right field bullpen to give the Red Sox a lead they would not give up in this back-and-forth matchup.
Player of the Game
Eh, tough one here, to be honest with you. With no real standout performances, I’ll go with Dylan Cease for a solid performance and in the spirit of continued improvement. Though a lot of people seem to be losing patience with Cease, today was his 29th start of his career – still less than a full season’s worth of starts. It’s all going to take a bit of time, but the progress continues.
Next Game
The White Sox will play games two and three of their four-game set in Boston tomorrow afternoon. It will be a noon and 4 PM doubleheader. Dallas Keuchel will pitch game one of the doubleheader, but the starter for game two has yet to be announced.
