After Willie Calhoun homered off Liam Hendriks in the top of the ninth inning, Nick Madrigal played hero with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to lead the White Sox to the 2-1 victory. Dallas Keuchel and Kyle Gibson started off the game with a great pitchers’ duel, and the White Sox’ bullpen was pretty solid as well.
With the win, the White Sox improve to 11-9 on the season with a chance to sweep the Ranges tomorrow afternoon.
W: Liam Hendriks (1-0) | L: John King (2-1)
Savant Leaders
Notable Performances
Dallas Keuchel: 6 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 10 Swinging Strikes
Dallas Keuchel showed a return to form tonight, throwing six strong innings while keeping the Rangers off balance all night. Keuchel was able to work into the seventh, but quickly turned things over to Codi Heuer after a leadoff single. All said, an excellent night from Keuchel, and one the White Sox needed.
Yoan Moncada: 3-for-4, R
Moncada didn’t do anything too flashy tonight, but he added three more hits onto his season total, raising his average to .265 in the process. It looks as if Moncada has begun to turn the corner on his early season struggles.
Billy Hamilton: 0-for-2, K
Billy Hamilton is on here for one reason alone: this play that saved a huge run when he came in as a defensive replacement.
Matchup of the Game
In order to have the walk-off today, the White Sox first had to score a run in the game. They did their work with two outs in the sixth inning, as Yoan Moncada and Jose Abreu both hit singles to extend the inning. With Robert up, he quickly fell behind 0-2 after chasing two sliders. However, after getting ahead of Robert, Kyle Gibson was unable to finish Robert off and ended up walking him to load the bases. A run would score off a wild pitch, thanks to Robert extending the inning and adjusting after two rough swings to start the at-bat.
Player of the Game
Nick Madrigal played the hero tonight, and for that reason, he is our Player of the Game. This is the first walk-off hit of Madrigal’s career.
Next Game
The White Sox will go to battle tomorrow afternoon as they look to sweep the series against the Rangers. Michael Kopech will make his second start of the season tomorrow, and he will be opposed by Kohei Arihara of the Rangers.
The game will start at 1:10 PM CT and can be viewed on NBC Sports Chicago.
