Oh, thank heavens. The nightmare is over. The White Sox have finally won a baseball game after losing the previous eight.
Future (present?) White Sox Ace Dylan Cease set the tone for the game by allowing only one base runner (a walk to Carlos Santana) through five innings. Cease’s consistent ability to get swings and misses is why he’s one of the most fun and electric young pitchers in the game. Meanwhile, the offense seemed to sputter along as usual. Starting catcher Reese McGuire hit a sac fly in the 2nd inning to start the scoring and an Andrew Vaughn RBI double in the 3rd and a Jake Burger home run in the 4th meant that Dylan Cease had a 3-0 led going in to the 6th inning.
Cease lost his no-hitter after the first batter in the 6th inning, thanks to Edward Olivares, and two batters later Cease walked Nicky Lopez. Both Olivares and Lopez ended up scoring, but Cease still managed to limit the damage thanks to his 8th and 9th strike out if the game and still managed an above average outing by only giving up 2 runs in 6 innings.
Things seemed their most bleak in the top of the 7th inning after a rough José Ruiz and a frankly not-so-stellar performance from Bennett Sousa helped the Sox lead diminish and the Pale Hose ended thehalf- inning tied 3-3.
However, there was light at the end of the tunnel thanks to budding superstar Andrew Clayton Vaughn. Danny Mendick and Tim Anderson hit 2-out singles off of Royals reliever Collin Snider. With Vaughn up to bat, Royals replaced Snider with righty Scott Barlow. Andrew Vaughn then proceeded to hit a three run bomb to give the White Sox the lead 6-3. The Good Guys added an insurance run the bottom of the 8th and Sox fans all over the world can now breathe a sigh of relief.
An eight game losing streak, especially most of them coming against divisional opponents, is obviously never a good thing, but the Sox are still not that far down in the AL Central standings and have 145 more games left to play. Hopefully, today’s win helps kick start a future, long winning streak.
W: Bennett Sousa (1-0) | L: Collin Snider (2-1) | S: Kendall Graveman (1)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
Bottom 2nd: Reese McGuire sac fly to RF. Yasmani Grandal scores. 1-0 White Sox
Bottom 3rd: Andrew Vaughn doubles. Tim Anderson scores. 2-0 White Sox
Bottom 4th: Jake Burger homers to CF. 3-0 White Sox.
Bottom 7th: Andrew Vaughn homers to LF. Danny Mendick and Tim Anderson scores. 6-3 White Sox
Bottom 8th: Reese McGuire grounds into double play. Leury García scores. 7-3 White Sox
Notable Performances
Andrew Vaughn: 2 for 4, HR, 2B, R, 4 RBI
I posted this to the Sox on 35th Slack right before Andrew Vaughn’s at-bat in the 7th while the Royals were changing pitchers:
Needless to say, Vaughn’s three run bomb was just what the doctor ordered to spark the offense and help end the Sox slump.
Andrew Vaughn has arguably been the White Sox best offensive player this year, and Tony La Russa has been rewarding Vaughn’s efforts of late by batting him in the 2-hole. That decision certainly paid off this afternoon. Vaughn is currently slashing .279/.354/.535 on the year, good for a wRC+ of 165. He also had three hard hit balls on the today, with two of them landing for hits, and both of then extra base hits.
Additionally, Andrew Vaughn was notoriously awful to end his rookie campaign in 2021 with RISP and 2-outs. He certainly was not his 2021 self in the bottom of the 7th inning today with a runner in scoring position and 2-outs in the inning.
Dylan Cease: 6.0 IP, 9 K, 3 BB, 2 ER
Dealin’ Cease started off the day by retiring 13 straight Royals before walking Carlos Santana in the top of the 5th inning.
Cease’s no-hit bid came to an end an inning later when Edward Olivares started off the 6th with a slow infielder grounder to third for a base hit. The inning ending up getting away from Dylan Cease a bit as he allowed two runs to score, one of which was Olivares; however, he still ended up pitching out of a jam by striking out Salavdor Perez and Hunter Dozier to get the last two outs of the inning. Walks are still a bit of a problem for Cease, but still, going into the 6th inning with a no-hitter on the line and the ability to strike out guys to get out of trouble is great to see.
Jake Burger: 3 for 4, HR, R, RBI
Jake Burger is quietly proving why he needs to be an everyday starter, even once Yoán Moncada comes back healthy. After getting screwed by a Barrel fly out yesterday,
Burger hit a 403 feet home run this afternoon:
Jake Burger was also a triple away from the cycle.
Kendall Graveman: 2.0 IP, 4K, 0 BB
Presumably, with Liam Hendriks unavailable due to his back tightness (either that or Tony La Russa didn’t want any drama in the 9th inning like the Aussie has been prone to do this season), Kendall Graveman pitched a stress-free 6-out save to help the White Sox end their losing streak.
Next Match Up
The White Sox are looking to take the series against the Kansas City Royals with Michael Kopech on the bump for the Good Guys. He’s scheduled to go up against Brad Keller. The game is set for 1:10 PM on NBC Sports Chicago.
Follow us @SoxOn35th for more updates!
