When Paul Konerko hit a 3-run HR in the 1st inning, a few different things happened. For starters, Hawk got very emotional on the White Sox broadcast. It represented Paul’s first HR since June 29, and it reminded Francisco Liriano that he is Francisco Liriano, and not a dominant ace, as he may have puffed himself to be based on his last few starts against the Southsiders. The offense came back and in a big way as the Sox put up 7 runs to defeat Liriano’s Twins.
Twins (40-56): 4
White Sox (51-45): 7
Gavin Floyd didn’t have his good control, but it was good enough for the purposes of the evening. He went 6 innings, allowed 6 hits and just 2 earned runs. He did walk 6 batters though, and only managed to strike out 1. He made good friends with the double play ball, though and they helped him out of jams when necessary. The Sox turned 1,2,3,4,5 double plays on the evening.
The big difference that put the White Sox over the top was the long ball. Paul Konerko, Adam Dunn and Alex Rios all hit homeruns to constitute all 7 White Sox runs. Rios’ blast may have traveled 450 feet bouncing in the left field bleachers up to the concourse area. All of those tallies came against Liriano, helping the offense to remember, they can hit. No better way to beat losing streak.
In addition to this being Floyd’s first appearance since his return, Jesse Crain came in and made his official return as well. He was greeted rather rudely by Ryan Doumit, who hit his 10th HR of the year. Nice to have Crain back, hope to see more Jesse Crain and less Crain Wreck. Brett Myers also made his White Sox debut in this one. He and his beard faced just one batter and go the out.
Plus: Do you remember offense? I remember offense, and I saw some tonight. This is the team that is competing for the AL Central.
Minus: It’s good that Gavin Floyd is back, I’d just prefer that he didn’t walk a batter an inning, that would be best.
Player of the Game
Paul Konerko – .262 Win Expectancy added