While things haven’t been good for the White Sox this week, Luis Robert Jr. has clearly turned things around recently.
Robert Jr. was the hero in tonight’s ballgame, driving in two of the team’s three runs – including one on a go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the eighth – to guide the White Sox to their third victory of the season over the Astros. His fourth inning home run opened the scoring, and after extending his streak to five consecutive White Sox runs driven in with the aforementioned RBI single, Seby Zavala joined the party with an RBI single of his own. It was far from a strong performance from the White Sox’ offense, however, it was more than enough for a strong pitching performance tonight.
On the mound, Dylan Cease looked like himself for the first time in awhile for the White Sox, throwing six scoreless innings to continue his season dominance of Houston. He walked two and struck out five Astros’ hitters, in what he would likely describe as a vastly improved outing compared to recent ones. He turned the ball over to Reynaldo Lopez, who struggled in his 0.2 innings of work, and then to Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman. Kelly allowed his inherited runner to score on a high chopper, but looked overall solid in his outing. Graveman saw some traffic on the base paths, but no one crossed the plate in his second save of the season.
With the victory, the White Sox improve to 14-27 on the year.
W: Joe Kelly (1-1) | L: Rafael Montero (0-3) | S: Kendall Graveman (2)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recao:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
- Bottom 4th: Luis Robert Jr. homers (10) to left field. 1-0 White Sox.
- Bottom 8th: Luis Robert Jr. singles to right field. Yoan Moncada scores. 2-1 White Sox.
- Bottom 8th: Seby Zavala singles to right field. Luis Robert Jr. scores. 3-1 White Sox.
Notable Performances
Dylan Cease: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Dylan Cease has been struggling mightily this season, so consider this outing a great step in the right direction.
Luis Robert Jr:
There aren’t too many hotter hitters on the planet right now, and Luis Robert Jr. moving down in the lineup a bit may have been what sparks him this season.
Yoan Moncada: 3-for-4, 2 2B, R
If the White Sox are serious about turning things around this season, they’re going to need a healthy Yoan Moncada to do it.
Next Matchup
The White Sox and Astros will play the rubber match of this series and the season series tomorrow afternoon for Mother’s Day. Lucas Giolito will get the start in hopes of extending his solid start to the season.
The game will begin at 1:10 PM CT over on NBC Sports Chicago.
Follow us @SoxOn35th for more throughout the season!
Featured Image: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
