James Shields Benefits from White Sox Rout of Tigers
White Sox rout division rivals for first victory of the season. The South Siders received contributions from its starting catcher, designated hitter on Thursday.
The Chicago White Sox were able to notch its first victory of the 2017 season with an 11-2 rout of the Detroit Tigers on Thursday. With James Shields pitching for the Sox, the South Siders were able to give him more than enough run support against the Tigers.
Shields, who was pitching in his first game of the season had a solid performance on the mound. After giving up a solo home run to Tyler Collins in the second inning, Shields held the Tigers scoreless until his departure in the sixth inning. Shields pitched 5.1 innings with one earned run, five walks and five strikeouts.
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While Shields had a solid performance on the mound, he was backed by good run support from the Sox offense on Thursday. The Sox hit three home runs, two coming off the bat of Geovany Soto.
After trailing Detroit 1-0 in the top of the second inning, the Sox came back to take the lead which was started by a squeeze bunt from Jacob May. With Matt Davidson on third base after hitting a triple, Sox manager Rick Renteria called for a squeeze play and was rewarded with Davidson being safe at home to tie the game.
The Sox would extend its lead to 2-1 after a RBI single from Tim Anderson. The Tigers couldn’t hold off the Sox surge as Soto grew the South Siders lead to 5-1 after hitting a three run home run in the third inning. Davidson would add to the Sox lead with a three run home run of his own in the fourth inning. Davidson’s raveled 443 feet. Soto later hit his second home run of the game in the seventh inning.
With the win, the Sox split the rain shortened series with the Tigers and move to 1-1 on the season. The Sox most likely won’t score 11 runs regularly this season, but it was nice to see the offense provide Shields with run support early. The Sox needed a win like this to provide positive momentum going into their series with the Minnesota Twins which starts on Friday.
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The Sox will start Derek Holland on Friday against the Twins. Minnesota will send Phil Hughes to the mound to face the Sox. The weather should be much better this weekend, so fans should take some time to go view the Sox play at Guaranteed Rate Field before a lengthy road trip.