It hasn’t been pretty for the White Sox recently, but they got themselves back on track tonight – and used the long ball to do it.
After dropping a pretty brutal game in the opener of this series, the White Sox got another solid performance from Lance Lynn to start the game off right. In total, Lynn would go seven innings, giving up just one run in the effort. He struck out eight in the effort and kept traffic off the base paths for most of the night. The game’s defining moment was in the fourth inning in which Lynn gave up his only run – a homer to Bobby Witt Jr. Later that inning, the Royals would load the bases with only one out against Lynn, but he would get himself an inning-ending double play, shutting down what was really the last threat by the Royals all night.
On the flip side, the White Sox would hit some homers of their own, with both AJ Pollock and Elvis Andrus leaving the yard against Royals starter Kris Bubic. Outside of that, Bubic was able to work in and out of trouble for most of the evening and sent this game to a 2-1 matchup through six innings. It would be in the seventh, however, where things unraveled a bit for the Royals. The White Sox were able to load the bases with no one out, scoring one run on an Elvis Andrus RBI groundout. They would get another later in the inning via a two-out RBI single by Jose Abreu, pushing the lead to 4-1.
Kendall Graveman and a fairly unused Liam Hendriks would go on to finish this one off, giving the White Sox their first win in a week.
With the win, the White Sox improve to 64-66 and pick up a game on the Guardians in the process.
W: Lance Lynn (4-5) | L: Kris Bubic (2-10) | S: Liam Hendriks (29)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
Bottom 4th: AJ Pollock homers (9) to right field. 1-1 Tie
Bottom 5th: Elvis Andrus homers (9) to left field. 2-1 White Sox
Bottom 7th: Elvis Andrus grounds out. Gavin Sheets scores. 3-1 White Sox
Bottom 7th: Jose Abreu singles to CF. Romy Gonzalez scores. 4-1 White Sox
Notable Performances
Lance Lynn: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Lance Lynn had a 2.73 ERA in the month of August heading into this start, and he only improved things this evening in the final day of the month. After some rough starts immediately after returning from his knee injury, Lynn has returned back to his expected form.
Elvis Andrus: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
Andrus hit his first homer tonight with the Sox and his ninth overall on the season.
AJ Pollock: 1-for-4, HR, RBI, R
Pollock also launched his ninth homer of the season tonight, as his OPS slowly creeps up towards .700 (currently at .653).
Next Matchup
The White Sox and Royals will play the rubber match of this series on YouTube TV tomorrow afternoon. Johnny Cueto will go up against the Royals’ Daniel Mengden.
The game will begin at 1:10 PM CT and will NOT be available on NBC Sports Chicago.
Follow us @SoxOn35th for more updates throughout the season!
Featured Image: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
