The White Sox have been swinging the bat better as of late, though it took them until the eighth inning to get the bats going today. When it was all said and done, however, the South Siders turned a back-and-forth affair into a pretty easy victory.
The early innings were dominated by pitching, as Davis Martin and Reynaldo Loapez combined for seven innings of two-run baseball. The Rangers had to go to a bullpen day with Glen Otto’s placement on the COVID-19 injured List, and their varied looks throughout the day kept the White Sox off balance. An RBI single by Yasmani Grandal and a manufactured run by Luis Robert in the sixth inning were all the White Sox could muster heading into the late innings. With an RBI double by AJ Pollock in the bottom of the seventh, it looked as if the White Sox had taken the lead for good.
However, Corey Seager would tie the game in the top of the eighth with a two-out homer off of Kendall Graveman, sending the White Sox into the bottom of the eighth with work to do. At that point, the South Siders opened the floodgates. The rally got started with two outs when Jake Burger reached on an error by Nate Lowe at first base. From there, a Yoan Moncada single, Yasmani Grandal double, Josh Harrison single, and Danny Mendick home run propelled the White Sox to their third five-run inning of the season.
Liam Hendriks would close out the game with an easy 1-2-3 ninth inning for a White Sox winner.
With the win, the White Sox improve to 27-29 on the season and keep pace with the Twins, who won today.
W: Kendall Graveman (2-1) | L: John King (1-2)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Hitting Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
Bottom 2nd: Yasmani Grandal singles to CF. Jake Burger scores. 1-0 White Sox
Bottom 6th: Luis Robert steals 3rd base. Throwing error by Sam Huff. Luis Robert scores. 2-2 Tie
Bottom 7th: AJ Pollock doubles to LF. Josh Harrison scores. 3-2 White Sox
Bottom 8th: Yasmani Grandal doubles to RF. Jake Burger, Yoan Moncada score. 5-3 White Sox
Bottom 8th: Josh Harrison singles to CF. Leury Garcia scores. 6-3 White Sox
Bottom 8th: Danny Mendick homers (2) to LF. Josh Harrison scores. 8-3 White Sox
Notable Performances
Reynaldo Lopez: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Lopez started the game as the “Opener” for the White Sox, giving Davis Martin to start his outing against the bottom part of the order. Based on the results from both Lopez and Martin, it’s pretty clear the strategy worked. Lopez looked sharp with all four of his pitches today, and it was another encouraging outing from Lopez out of the bullpen.
Davis Martin: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Martin served as the bulk innings man today behind Reynaldo Lopez, and he looked sharp throughout the night. He was working with a strong fastball/slider combination while mixing it a great changeup to keep hitters off balance. He only allowed three hits on the night, though two did leave the ballpark.
Martin absolutely has major league-quality stuff, and with some growth and development, could absolutely find himself as a piece of the White Sox future in either the bullpen or back end of the rotation.
AJ Pollock: 2-for-5, 2B, RBI, K
Pollock served as the White Sox’ leadoff hitter tonight, and through seven innings, looked as if he was going to deliver the game-deciding blow with a two-out double in the bottom of the seventh. Pollock now has five hits in his last two games, and his at-bats as a whole have looked solid as he looks to continue his recent stretch of solid baseball.
Yasmani Grandal: 2-for-3, 2B, 3 RBI, BB
It’s no secret that Yasmani Grandal hasn’t had a great start to his season. However, with a two hit tonight that included three RBIs, hopefully this is the start of the turnaround for Grandal at the plate. His bat is a huge part of a successful White Sox offense. Grandal is also now on a four-game hitting streak.
Other Game Highlights:
The Next Matchup
The White Sox and Rangers go back to work tomorrow afternoon. Martin Perez will look to continue his dominance for the Rangers, while Lucas Giolito will look to bounce back from a few tough performances over the past few outings.
The game begins on 1:10 PM CT and can be viewed on NBC Sports Chicago.
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Featured Image: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA TODAY Sports
