Dingers For Everybody! White Sox Win Third in a Row at Rogers Center

Why shouldn’t Dewayne Wise once again get the scoring started for the Sox? Why shouldn’t the homerun ball once again rule the day? If nobody has a valid reason, we shall proceed. Francisco Liriano was the beneficiary of the White Sox power attack and got on the board in the decision department earning his first win as a member of the Southside. With the victory, the Sox took 3 out of 4 in Toronto, and in the process stretched their division lead by an additional half game.

White Sox (65-52): 7
Blue Jays (55-63): 2

The long ball assault started on the wrong side for the Pale Hose as Liriano served one up to Moises Sierra with a runner on in the 2nd. Once that was out of the way, Liriano calmed down and mowed through the Toronto lineup for the rest of his time out, retiring 13 in a row at a stretch. With 6 Ks and just 3 hits allowed in his 6.1 innings pitched, Liriano continues to help Sox fans appreciate the GM.

The White Sox runs came courtesy of bombs as well. All of them. Dewayne Wise kicked it off in the 3rd with a shot that, at the time, cut the Blue Jays lead to 2-1. Wise has had a hell of an impactful series, hitting 2 HR and 6 RBI while in Toronto. Two innings later, Dayan Viciedo reached out and pulled one hard, lining a ball to left field and tying the game. Aaron Laffey then threw Tyler Flowers a pitch that was sent racing towards the top deck in left field to give the Sox lead. In the 8th, Alex Rios quieted the taunts by sending a 3-run shot out to give the Sox some breathing room and bringing the score to 6-2. But wait! There’s more! Alexei Ramirez punctuated the 8th inning crooked number by hitting his 6th HR of the year.

The bullpen had to carried its weight as well. Jesse Crain finished off the frame Liriano left, and Brett Myers nailed down the 8th. The 9th was left to Philip Humber, and he presented a perfect frame to cement the win.

Plus: A lot of folks may try and claim that all of these homeruns are bad. That a team that wins games with homeruns can’t sustain it and won’t keep winning that way. I will try no such thing. The White Sox have played their 117th game, they’ve won a good number of those. There isn’t much left to prove. We’ve seen them win with base hits, we’ve seen them win with homeruns. We’ve seen them struggle on both fronts as well. Point is, right now the homeruns are coming, and the homeruns are winning games for them. That’s a good thing. Don’t ever let anybody tell you that homeruns are bad.

Minus: An unfortunate incident occurred in the bottom half of the 7th inning, as a fan on the third base side appeared to have suffered a heart attack. The WCIU broadcast, for some reason, stuck through it, as play was halted and paramedics attempted to resuscitate the man for about 5 minutes. When he was finally loaded onto a cart and taken away, the attempts to resuscitate continued. Game play continued thereafter, though it’s tough to focus on a game having quite possibly just witnessed somebody pass away.

Player of the Game
Francisco Liriano – .160 WPA

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