Offense Pours it on Late in White Sox Victory

Jose Quintana didn’t have the shutdown game he had last time out. He gave up 8 hits, he even walked a batter. Worse than that he gave up 4 runs worth of long balls to Josh Willingham as he hit his 24th and 25th of the year. But the White Sox offense had his back, and he walked away with a no decision a bit more pleasing than his last.

Twins (40-57): 4
White Sox (52-45): 11

The Sox jumped out to an early lead having been gifted a run by an Brian Dozier error that allowed Adam Dunn to score on what would have been a ground out by Alex Rios for the final out of the 1st. The next runs were scored by a solo HR each for Josh Willingham and Paul Konerko to pull the score to 2-1, where it sat until the next time Willingham stepped into the box. This time with runners on, he touched Quintana for a 3-run blast.

The 7th inning was an interesting one. Alejandro De Aza flied out to Darin Mastroianna, who dove and appeared to have trapped the ball. Umpire Angel Hernandez initially saw it this way and called De Aza safe, but a meeting of the umpires resulted in a change of heart, and De Aza was out. Fortunately, that was just one out. You are allowed three per inning. Kevin Youkilis walked and Adam Dunn reached out and took a pitch from lefty Tyler Robertson and deposited it into the right field bleachers. Paul Konerko singled, Alex Rios doubled, and Dayan Viciedo made the Twins pay for an intentional walk issued to Alexei with a 2-run single. One of those crooked number innings.

I enjoyed the crooked number inning and the Sox did too. So much so that they put another crooked number up the very next inning, punctuated by Alexei Ramriez putting one into the White Sox bullpen. When it rains it pours. Let’s just enjoy it and put the drought behind us. The Sox pull back into a tie with Detroit for the division lead.

Plus: Paul Konerko is back to being Paul Konerko. 4-4 with a HR and double, bringing him just a triple short of the cycle. He is 9 for his last 12. It’s worth noting that Adam Dunn was also only a triple short of the cycle.

Minus: Gordon Beckham is mired in a serious slump. He’s popping up pretty much everything he sees, except when he’s grounding into rally ending double plays. His name has been popping up in fan’s trade scenarios more and more lately, though I don’t know what the actual interest is at organizational levels. Personally I’d rather not lose his defense up the middle, the guy has got to get himself back on track at the plate.

Player of the Game
Adam Dunn – .327 Win Expectancy added

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