White Sox complete sweep of the Rangers with a 4-1 win

CHICAGO – The White Sox completed the sweep of the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon, and improved to 13-6 on the season in front of a crowd of 26,000 plus fans.

The White Sox entered play at 12-6, in first place of the American League Central as well as the rest of the American League for that matter. Mat Latos threw six innings giving up just one lone solo home run in the top of the first inning to Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara, pushing his record to 4-0 on the season with a minuscule ERA of 0.74 to date.

Brett Lawrie singled, doubled, scored, drove in a run, and made another highlight reel defensive grab at second base on the afternoon leading the White Sox to their third consecutive victory on Sunday afternoon. David Robertson came on in the ninth inning and retired the Rangers 1-2-3 for his seventh save of the year.

Scoring Summary

1st Inning (Top): Nomar Mazara homered to center-field to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

3rd Inning (Bottom): White Sox catcher Dioner Navarro hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the third, a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1 after three innings.

5th Inning (Bottom): After Melky Cabrera walked to lead off the inning in the bottom of the fifth, Brett Lawrie doubled to set up the White Sox with runners at second and third base. Rangers starter Derek Holland threw a wild pitch, allowing Melky Cabrera to score making it a 2-1 White Sox lead. Brett Lawrie scored on a sacrifice fly by Dioner Navarro, making it a 3-1 White Sox lead.

8th Inning (Bottom): Brett Lawrie plated Jose Abreu with an RBI single up the middle, giving the White Sox a 4-1 lead heading into the ninth inning.

Escape Act

In the top of the sixth inning with runners at first and third base, White Sox starter Mat Latos was already past the 100 pitch mark on the afternoon. As the White Sox clung to a two run lead, Latos made an excellent play on a sharply hit one hopper up the middle, and turned a 1-4-3 double play to end the inning with no damage done, and the Sox leading 3-1 heading into the home half of the sixth inning.

Defensive Gem

In the top of the second inning Brett Lawrie flashed some leather brilliance again when he made a diving stop at the outfield grass line, and threw out Rangers outfielder Ryan Rua at first for the out on the play. Lawrie’s diving play was his third in the last two games.

Notables

Mat Latos: 6 IP, 1 R, 7 H, 2 K, 2 BB (WP) 4-0, 0.74 ERA

Dioner Navarro: 1-1, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 RBI

Brett Lawrie: 2-4, 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI

Game Ball

Brett Lawrie doubled, and scored in the fifth inning and then drove in an insurance run when he singled up the middle with two outs to plate Jose Abreu, and extend the White Sox lead to 4-1 heading into the ninth inning. Toss in his defensive gem from the second inning, and Brett Lawrie gets our game ball for the day.

On Deck

Monday 6:07 PM  Chicago White Sox (13-6) vs Toronto Blue Jays (9-10) @ Rogers Centre

Probables Miguel Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)  vs Marcus Stroman (3-0, 4.13 ERA)

Broadcast Info: TV: CSN / Radio: WLS 890AM