Sale Leads Sox to Shutout

The Mayor may have been bored, but we were entertained. On a night where the Chicago Police Department was being honored for their work, Mayor Rahm Emanuel made the big screen at The Cell and he didn’t look to happy to be there. That’s ok, because Chris Sale took care of business along with the White Sox bats and Scott Diamond was finally handed his first lost of the season. The rest of us are happy.

Twins (15-28): 0
White Sox (22-22): 6

The runs didn’t come in bunches, but they surely came. Starting off early after a De Aza single and Beckham reaching on error, Adam Dunn lined a ball up the middle score the first run of the evening for the Sox. At the moment it looked like the first of many for the inning, but the double play ball would keep the Sox in check early, leaving Sale to protect a 1-0 lead for another couple of frames.

Alex Rios got on the board in the 4th, hitting his first HR of the year since the go-ahead blast in Texas during the opening series of 2012. The Sox would add a pair more via ground out from Orlando Hudson and a solo shot from Paul Konerko, providing more than needed for Chris Sale. Sale improved to 5-2 this year by throwing 7 innings of 2 hit ball without allowing a run. No big deal. Bullpen efforts from Jesse Crain and Matt Thornton would seal the shutout.

Plus: The O-Dog may have only gone 1 for 4 in his first start on the Southisde but he made 2 quality plays at third, keeping questions of his ability to man the hot corner quiet for a bit longer.

Minus: Gordon Beckham ignored my insistence that his bat is on the verge of exploding and turned in an 0fer for the night. I still say his swings looked good and maintain the struggling, overmatched Gordo may be a thing of the past.

Tipping Point:
Though Chris Sale handling the Twins lineup inning after inning clearly made him the most valuable part of the game, the Alex Rios HR to stretch the score to 3-0 was the single event that constituted the largest shift in win expectancy at 14.6%.

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