Is that…a winning streak?!
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. For the second-straight game the White Sox put seven runs on the board en route to a big win at home. Riding high off some great news earlier in the day regarding Luis Robert the Sox received an unexpected offensive shot in the arm via Gavin Sheets. Making his big league debut, Sheets looked comfy at the plate going 2-4 with a pair of RBI. More on him in a bit.
By no means was this a memorable night for Lucas Giolito, but it could’ve been a heck of a lot worse. Things looked shaky right off the bat but he was able to settle in and grab a lot of ground balls while not necessarily having that put-away stuff we’re used to. In all, Giolito earned just nine whiffs on the night.
A four-run fifth inning from the Sox gave the bullpen some breathing room that they would eventually need as Evan Marshall (who left with an injury) struggled before Ryan Burr and Liam Hendriks shut the door for a White Sox winner.
The Palehose move to 46-32 on the year with the victory.
W: Lucas Giolito (6-5) | L: Kenta Maeda (3-3) | SV: Liam Hendriks (21)
Savant Leaders
Notable Performances
Gavin Sheets: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI
A second round draft pick by the White Sox back in 2017, Gavin Sheets earned everything he got tonight. After grinding through the minors for the past four years, Sheets was called up by the big league club to play right field and hit seventh. The man can hit. Sheets took the second pitch he’d seen as a big leaguer and deposited it into left field for a single. He would go on to add his first and second career RBI to his resume with a fielder’s choice in the third and a ducksnort double in the fifth.
Lucas Giolito: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 K, 1 BB
A weird line for Lucas, but a successful one, nonetheless. Things did not seem great from the start as the Twins pushed two runs across the plate within Giolito’s first five pitches via a walk and a Josh Donaldson HR. However, as we’ve become accustomed to, it turned out to be just another slow start for the righty. He recovered to go six strong, giving up just one more earned run the rest of the way.
You’re not going to see many Lucas Giolito starts with just a single strikeout over so many innings, but he did a great job inducing weak contact and earning a few timely ground balls that were turned into double plays. He also got a bit of help from a Twins squad who apparently had no desire to run the bases well tonight. Andrew Vaughn caught Nelson Cruz crazily stretching a single and later Lucas would pick off Jorge Polanco as he tried to steal second.
Whatever way you slice it, we got six strong from No. 27 tonight.
Andrew Vaughn: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB
It hasn’t been the best stretch for Andrew Vaughn, but he continues to flash what will make him such a great hitter for years to come. His ability to take what a pitcher gives him was on display as he took an inside pitch from Kenta Maeda into the opposite field early in the game. He would later add another single to give himself another multi-hit effort.
Ryan Burr: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER
Whatever you’re doing Ryan Burr, keep doing it. Since making his season debut on May 31, Burr has been nothing short of fantastic out of the White Sox bullpen. Still yet to give up a run this season, tonight marked the seventh time in eight chances where he has pitched at least one inning and not given up a hit. With the apparent injury to Evan Marshall tonight, the right arm of Ryan Burr appears to have gotten even more important.
Matchup of the Game
Liam Hendriks vs. Alex Kirilloff with two outs in the ninth, tying run just 90 feet away. Yes, yes, Hendriks got himself into some trouble. A hit-by-pitch, walk and a wild pitch put the White Sox in a precarious situation, but it was one that Hendriks was more than prepared to get himself out of.
Hendriks started off Kirilloff, a highly-touted prospect himself, with a couple of fastballs that touched 100 mph. He then transitioned to a pair of sliders that stayed just far enough away from Kirilloff to get him to softly fly out to center field to end the game.
A save is a save is a save…right?!
Player of the Game
Who other than the man of the evening, Gavin Sheets. With Jake Lamb heading to the IL, the hope was that Sheets could provide that same type of pop against RHP. Well, I’d say the first night can be considered a success. Garnering his first and second big league hits, the 25-year-old looked comfortable at the plate, hitting a ball hard in the first and adding a softly-placed (65.1 EV) RBI double later on.
While not looking entirely comfortable out in right field, the rookie than held his own considering the fact that he’s primarily a first baseman. You never know what type of production you’ll get from a call-up like this, but if we can get even average production from Sheets for a month while we weather the injury storm, you could call that a win. Off to a good start.
Next Game
The White Sox will continue their three-game set with the Twins tomorrow as Dylan Cease takes the bump against Bailey Ober. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM CT and it will be viewable on NBC Sports Chicago.
Be sure to follow us on social media @SoxOn35th for more updates!
