White Sox: Pitching debacle in game against Cincinnati Reds

The Chicago White Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds today and the score looked more like an NFL game rather than an MLB game.

Many the White Sox and Reds pitchers embarrassed themselves in today’s outing at Camelback Ranch in Glendale.

Fortunately for the Sox, the tide turned and they got the win thanks to a Grand Slam in the bottom of the eighth by Luis Robert. They defeated the Reds by a score of 14-12.

Pathetic pitching began early

The debacle began in the very first inning. Miguel Gonzalez could not get out of the first inning. He pitched .2 innings and gave up five runs on four hits and two walks. His outing was the polar opposite of his first outing on March 2 when he pitched two innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In that game, he allowed four hits and no runs.

Even the relievers struggled

Sadly, Gonzalez’s replacement wasn’t any better. Chris Beck allowed four hits, four runs, and he walked two batters. He only pitched one inning. But, what do you expect from a guy who had ERAs in the sixes for three consecutive seasons?

Here’s the most cliche sentence I could possibly write regarding this game: Aaron Bummer lived up to his name and pitched one inning allowing two hits and two more runs. I’m very sorry.

By the time the game got through Bummer’s inning, the Sox were behind two runs. The score at the end of the sixth inning was 11-9, Reds. After Bummer’s inning, Connor Walsh pitched in the seventh and added one earned run to the stats.

The bright spots on the mound

While there were several Sox meltdowns on the mound, there were a few bright spots. Luis Avilan dominated the Reds, striking out three batters in 1.1 innings. No one landed on base on his watch. Nate Jones was credited with the win and he had a strikeout and one hit in his inning. The ninth belonged to Brad Goldberg who earned his first save of Spring Training facing the minimum number of Reds.

Did you see the score?

The Sox ended up with 16 hits and the Reds had 14. Nearly every player made it on base and home again. Yoan Moncada and Yolmer Sanchez both had three hits and scored two runs. Matt Davidson did his job in the number four hole adding three RBIs to his spring stats. Three Sox hit their first long balls of the season: Sanchez, Luis Robert, and Daniel Palka. Matt Davidson hit his third of the season.

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On a positive note, only two Reds hit home runs. Five Reds pitchers took the mound and the Sox scored 14 runs on four of them. The Sox scored runs in all but two innings, the fifth and seventh. Hopefully, the Sox will learn from their mistakes today and do what they need to avoid giving up 12 runs to any team – especially one like the Reds.

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