The White Sox 3-game winning streak came to and end Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field, as the Red Sox took game two of a three game set. Carlos Rodon had a solid start, as he gave up three earned runs over six innings. Meanwhile, Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz pitched a tad better as he went seven innings while only giving up two earned runs. Here is the recap.
Scoring Summary
1st Inning (Bottom): Adam Eaton flew out to left to lead of the inning for the Sox, however Jimmy Rollins reached on a single. Jose Abreu stayed hot, as he hit a 2-run home run into the left field seats, scoring Rollins. Frazier and Cabrera were both retired, and the White Sox led 2-0 after one inning of play.
3rd Inning (Top): With one out, Christian Vazquez reached on an infield single. Jackie Bradley Jr. flipped a single into left, advancing Vazquez to second. After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Mookie Betts struck out swinging to record the second out. Xander Bogaerts then drove home Vazquez with a single to left. Ortiz would fly out to end the inning. 2-1 Sox headed to the bottom of the 3rd inning.
5th Inning (Top): After Carlos Rodon retired the first two hitters, he walked Xander Bogaerts. David Ortiz followed that up with a 2-run home run to right-center, putting the Red Sox on top. 3-2 Red Sox headed to the bottom of the 5th inning.
7th Inning (Top): Zach Putnam was brought into the game to relieve Rodon. After retiring the first hitter, both Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts reached on singles. Putnam was lifted in favor of Zach Duke, who faced left-handed hitting David Ortiz. Ortiz hit a ground ball through the vacated left side, scoring Betts from second base. No more runs were scored in that inning. 4-2 Red Sox headed to the bottom of the 7th inning.
8th Inning (Top): With Zach Duke still in the game, Chris Young led off the inning with a double. Travis Shaw grounded out to short, advancing Young to third. With the infield drawn in, Josh Rutledge singled back up the middle to score Young. 5-2 Red Sox headed to the bottom of the 8th inning. No more runs would be scored in the ballgame.
Escape Act
With the White Sox already up 2-0 in the bottom of the 2nd inning Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz was in a jam. With Brett Lawrie, and Dioner Navarro on base and one out, Buchholz induced a double play ground ball from Austin Jackson to get out of the inning. He went on to dominate after that, as only one White Sox batter reached base (Lawrie walk) over the next 5 innings.
Defensive Gem
Mookie Betts robbed Dioner Navarro of a base hit to lead off the bottom of the 8th inning on a diving catch in short right field. Betts dove for a ball that was falling fast, and kept the lead-off batter from reaching.
Notables
Jose Abreu: 1-3, HR, 2 RBI’s
Jimmy Rollins: 1-3, R
Brett Lawrie: 0-1, 2 BB’s
Game Ball
Even though David Ortiz had a 2-run home run and an RBI single, I am going to award the game ball to Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz. After the 2nd inning he only allowed one base-runner, as he shut down the Sox offense. Buchholz picked up his first win of 2016, as he runs his record to 1-3.
On Deck
Thursday 7:10 PM Chicago White Sox (19-9) vs Boston Red Sox (16-11)
Probables
Erik Johnson (NR) vs Henry Owens (0-0, 4.82 ERA)
Broadcast Info
TV:CSN+/Radio: WLS: 890 AM