The White Sox’ Spring cleaning continues, as for the second straight series, the White Sox have swept a divisional rival. Lance Lynn battled around some suspect defense this afternoon, striking out nine and allowing no earned runs. On offense, the White Sox used some timely hitting via long balls from Tim Anderson and Jake Lamb and key RBI singles from Andrew Vaughn and Yermin Mercedes to score four runs in today’s effort. Matt Foster, Garrett Crochet, Jose Ruiz, and Liam Hendriks followed Lynn this afternoon before tomorrow’s doubleheader.
With the victory and sweep, the White Sox improve to 22-13.
W: Lance Lynn (4-1) | L: Michael Pineda (2-2) | S: Liam Hendriks (7)
Savant Leaders
Notable Performances
Lance Lynn: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 18 Swinging Strikes
Lance Lynn gave the White Sox some gutsy outs this afternoon, working around some defensive miscues to work through five innings on 111 pitches. He struck out nine in the effort while providing us with a great gif for the future.
Tim Anderson: 2-for-4, HR, RBI
Tim Anderson led the game off with a bang this afternoon, homering on the first pitch of the ballgame and adding a hit later in the game as well. Anderson is now hitting .315 on the season, and on top of his stellar defense, has been the sparkplug that this team continually needs in the lineup.
Yermin Mercedes: 1-for-1, 1B, RBI
Yermin Mercedes wasn’t in the starting lineup today, but his presence was still felt off the bench after his RBI single in the eighth inning put some distance between the Sox and Twins. Mercedes has been excellent all season, and it was his two-strike approach that allowed him to adjust and drive in an important insurance run.
Andrew Vaughn: 1-for-2, RBI, 2 BB
Andrew Vaughn is really hitting his stride at the plate, walking twice and delivering a key RBI single in the sixth inning. Vaughn is now hitting .263 on the season and has firmly put his name into the Rookie of the Year conversation as we get going this year.
Jake Lamb: 1-3, HR, RBI, 2 K
It wasn’t the world’s greatest defensive ballgame from Jake Lamb today, but he added a big home run in the middle innings to give the Sox a 2-0 lead at the time.
Matchup of the Game
We’ve talked a lot about Lance Lynn today, so the Matchup of the Game is going to go to Liam Hendriks’ 8th Inning Performance. With two on and one out, Hendriks came in to record a five-out save, doing so after inducing a flyout to Billy Hamilton and a pop out to Tim Anderson before recording a 1-2-3 ninth inning. The game was just 3-2 at the time, so stranding the go-ahead runner on base was huge for Hendriks.
Player of the Game
The Player of the Game has to go to Lance Lynn today. Without him battling through a couple of rough innings, this game could have gone very differently. Lynn’s ERA is now down to 1.30 on the season with a 2.26 FIP. In short, he’s been excellent.
Next Game
The White Sox welcome Kansas City back into town starting tomorrow afternoon with a day/night doubleheader to kick off a four-game series. Lucas Giolito (Game 1) and Michael Kopech (Game 2) will be the starters, and the games are at 2:10 PM and 7:10 PM respectively, both on NBC Sports Chicago.
