It hasn’t been the greatest season for the Chicago White Sox but it has had its great moments and the game on Tuesday night was one of those moments.
The Chicago White Sox were on a pretty nasty losing streak at seven games going into their Tuesday night battle with the Cleveland Indians. It was the type of stretch that made the dog days of the third year in the rebuild feel like a major drag. Tuesday night appeared to be the eighth straight loss for the White Sox until the magic happened.
Dylan Cease was coming off of his worst start in a Major League uniform. He gave up eight runs in two-plus innings against the Minnesota Twins last week but he would come out and have the best start of his 11 game career in this one. He got off to a rocky start when Indians superstar Francisco Lindor led the game off with a home run. Cease wasn’t happy but he would settle down after that. He had 11 strikeouts which are a new career-high.
He only walked two batters in the ballgame and they were the last two batters he faced. A home run given up by the bullpen would allow those two runs to score and gave the Indians a 5-2 lead. It appeared as if a masterful start by Cease was going to be wasted. Then the magic started for the White Sox after that.
Two got on base for James McCann with two outs in the eighth inning and like he has so many times before this year, he tied the game on an extremely clutch home run. The game was tied for Eloy Jimenez who made it back to back home runs which gave the White Sox the lead for good. It was Eloy Jimenez’s fourth multi-homerun game this season.
This game was a sign of what may be on the horizon for the White Sox. Every time they’ve won this season, it is because of pieces that are going to be there for the long haul. Jimenez and Cease had a lot to do with the win, and they have both been major pieces of the rebuild since coming over in a trade from the Chicago Cubs.
This could be the type of win that propels the White Sox to finish strong. Wins and losses don’t really matter right now but they are one win away from tying their total from all of 2018. This year has been a vast improvement and we are so close to great baseball on the southside.