(Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
The Angels saw the ball off of Chris Sale as well as you can see it now. “And the White Sox have their longest winning streak of the year….four!” The famous quote from Rookie of the YEar (which had “two” instead of “four”) sounds a little better tonight, because Chris Sale dominated the Angels to extend the Sox’s already season-high winning streak to four games with a 3-0 victory.
Sale extended his personal scoreless streak to a whopping 23 innings by giving up only three hits and three walks over seven and two-thirds innings, tallying a season-high 12 strikeouts.
Sale outdueled C.J. Wilson of the Angels (who for some reason, owns a car dealership in the Countryside area) and got just enough offensive support from Adam Dunn (who else?) and company to bring the Sox within two games of breaking even.
Alex Rios began the scoring for the Sox with a solo homer in the first inning. Conor Gillespie hit a clutch two-out RBI single to score Dayan Viciedo in the 7th inning. Dunn added an insurance run in the ninth inning with a solo shot of his own, his third homer in as many days.
Addison Reed shut the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 14th save in 15 chances. Tonight’s shutout of the Halos brought the Sox team ERA to 3.49, good enough for second best in the American League.
On a side note, boy was it nice to hear Tom Paciorek in the booth with Hawk again. Wimpy brought excitement and knows exactly when to talk to complement Hawk.
Up Next: Hector Santiago takes on Joe Blanton at 3:05 on Saturday on Fox.