A little rain couldn’t stop your Chicago White Sox from a series victory against the visiting Kansas City Royals. Lance Lynn and co. patiently waited through an hour-plus rain delay on their way to a 4-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon. Lynn turned in a workman-like quality start with six innings of four-hit ball. The lone run allowed and blemish on his scorecard came in the form of a Bobby Witt Jr. solo shot in the top of the 6th inning.
Akin to yesterday’s convincing win, the Sox grabbed a lead early and never looked back. A Yoán Moncada RBI-single (scoring Andrew Vaughn) in the bottom of the first inning got the boys off to a rapid start, and a José Abreu 3-run bomb to right-center (scoring Eloy Jiménez and Tim Anderson) gave the South Siders enough breathing room to seal the deal.
Not only was Lynn superb, but the bullpen also was extremely effective in stymying the Royals’ bats. Newly acquired Jake Diekman, Kendall Graveman, and Liam Hendriks combined for three dominant innings in relief. None of the three surrendered a hit, as they quickly dispelled any notion of a Kansas City comeback. Today’s series victory marked the first time that the ball club won back-to-back home series since the month of April.
The White Sox improved to 53-51, and remain two games behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central. Minnesota emerged victorious today in a matchup versus the Detroit Tigers, as they also posted a 4-1 victory.
W: Lance Lynn (2-4, 5.87 ERA) | L: Brady Singer (4-4, 3.67 ERA) | SV: Liam Hendriks (21)
Statcast Leaders
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
Bottom of the 1st: Yoán Moncada singles to center field. Eloy Jiménez to second. Andrew Vaughn scores. CWS 1- KC 0.
Bottom of the 3rd: José Abreu homers to center field. Eloy Jiménez scores. Tim Anderson scores. CWS 4- KC 0.
Notable Performances
Lance Lynn: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Lynn’s 10th start of the season was a ‘vintage Lance performance. He only needed 89 pitches to get through six frames in today’s strong outing. It was a nice bounce-back effort after he allowed five runs (four earned) in 5.2 innings in his last appearance against Oakland.
José Abreu: 2-for-4, 3-run HR (14), 3 RBI (55)
What else is there to say about Abreu at this point? His three-run blast was the difference in today’s win and he’s hit a home run in back-to-back games. The south side stalwart does nothing but mash, as his batting average remains above .300 (.302) and his slugging percentage continues to creep up near the .500 mark (.478).
The Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 6 K
Jake Diekman, Kendall Graveman, and Liam Hendriks completely shut down the Royals after Lynn departed the contest. Diekman has looked sharp in his first two appearances in a White Sox uniform, and Hendriks notched his 21st save of the 2022 campaign.
Andrew Vaughn and Josh Harrison: combined 4-for-7, BB, R
We have to give some love to these two Sox hitters, as they both posted a multi-hit effort for the second consecutive game. They will look to continue providing solid at-bats and production from the top (Vaughn) and bottom (Harrison) of the lineup.
Eloy Jiménez: 3-for-4, 3 1B, R
Eloy is absolutely scorching hot at the dish. While all of his hits today were singles, he continues to square up the ball and find holes. It’s his second consecutive three-hit performance, and he extended his hitting streak to nine games.
Next Game
The White Sox will travel to Texas to begin a series with the Rangers. The opener on Thursday night will feature a matchup between Johnny Cueto and Rangers prospect Cole Ragans.
The game can be viewed on NBC Sports Chicago at 7:05 PM CST.
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Featured Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
