White Sox fall to Reds 6-3 in Cactus League finale

GOODYEAR, AZ – The Chicago White Sox took on the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday afternoon in Goodyear, Arizona. Jose Quintana got the start for the White Sox, opposed by Reds starter Josh Smith.

In the bottom of the first inning Quintana retired the first two Reds hitters of the inning before allowing the Reds to load the bases after a Joey Votto single, a Brandon Phillips double, and a walk to Eugenio Suarez. Quintana escaped trouble by striking out Reds designated hitter Adam Duvall, retiring the side.

Brandon Phillips broke the tie in the bottom of the third inning, when he took a Jose Quintana fastball over the left field fence for a two run home run, plating Joey Votto who singled in the at-bat prior, and giving the Reds a 2-0 lead. Quintana again allowed the bases to be loaded with two outs after a pair of walks, and a fielding error by shortstop Tim Anderson. Juan Duran was called out on strikes looking, as Quintana danced out of danger once again in the third inning.

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In the top of the fourth inning Tyler Saladino put the White Sox on the board with a deep solo home run to left field, cutting the Reds lead to 2-1. The home run was the fifth of the spring for Saladino, to go along with 13 RBI.

Reds center-fielder Billy Hamilton got the Reds going in the home half of the fourth inning as he laced a line drive into the gap, making it into third base easily for a lead-off triple off of Sox starter Jose Quintana. Reds left-fielder Jose Peraza followed that up with an RBI triple of his own in the very next at-bat in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Reds a 3-1 lead. Joey Votto hit a line drive through the shift on the right side of the infield, giving him his third hit of the afternoon, and stretching the Reds lead to 4-1.

Jose Quintana passed the ball off to David Robertson, ending his day having thrown just three innings while allowing four runs on nine hits. Quintana allowed three walks on the afternoon, while striking out three as well. David Robertson continued his scoreless spring campaign by inducing a double play off of the bat of Brandon Phillips, and a fly ball to center-field.

Tim Anderson led off the sixth inning with a base hit, and advanced to third on a perfectly executed hit & run by J.B. Shuck who singled through the left side where the shortstop would have been. Tyler Saladino singled into left-field, scoring Anderson for his second RBI on the afternoon, making it a 4-2 game. A Joey DeMichele moved Shuck, and Anderson over to second and third base on a ground out to the first-baseman Joey Votto. Avisail Garcia drove in J.B. Shuck on a ground out to the third-baseman Eugenio Suarez, cutting the Reds lead down to 4-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Billy Hamilton collected another extra base hit by virtue of his speed when he led off the bottom of the sixth with a double down the right-field line. Joey Votto scored Hamilton with his fourth hit of the game, a single to left-field that gave the Reds a 5-3 lead. After a Brandon Phillips base hit moved Joey Votto into scoring position, third-baseman Eugenio Suarez collected an RBI single, plating Votto and stretching the Reds lead back to three runs at 6-3. Zach Duke‘s scoreless spring came to an end, and he was replaced by reliever Phillippe Aumont after giving up a pair in the inning.

The White Sox weren’t able to answer the Reds pair in the sixth, as they dropped the Cactus League finale to the Reds 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon.