The White Sox have been unbelievably good on the road this season. However, at the same time, they have been unbelievably mediocre at home. But none the less, the Sox went into St. Louis on Tuesday with the best road record in major league baseball at 17-9. With a red hot Quintana on the mound and a solid offensive performance, the Sox would improve that major league best road record to 18-9.
The Sox jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second on an Orlando Hudson triple to right center field with two on and two out. The offense would quiet down for a few innings, coming back to life in the 8th when Alejandro De Aza doubled to start the inning. Gordon Beckham would follow him with an RBI single giving the Sox the 3-1 advantage. The Swamp Donkey, Adam Dunn, made his presence known by launching a solo bomb into the right field bleachers. Capping off the four run 8th would be AJ Pierzynski knocking in Alex Rios with a 2 run laser into the right field stands.
Jose Quintana was effective once again. Going 5 1/3rd innings allowing just one run on 10 hits. He has been a pleasant surprise for this White Sox team and I think his success opens up a trade possibility for Gavin Floyd. But thats another topic for another time. The Sox also used Jones, Thornton, Crain, and Reed who combined for 3 2/3rd innings of work out of the pen, allowing no runs on 1 hit.
I’m not sure what it is with this team and playing so well on the road, but if they can start to figure it out at home, this will be one tough club to beat. I think there are a few trade options on the table right now for Kenny to consider in order to make this team a little stronger, places that stand out as needing some help are obviously 3rd base (although Hudson has done well for us in terms of who he was replacing) and the bullpen, possibly 1 spot in the rotation.
Oh hey, Cleveland lost too… back up to 1.5 game lead baby! We got Jake “The Bulldog” Peavy on the mound tomorrow, lets go out and take the series early.