The Chicago White Sox are a good team so when they blow leads to bad teams it is no fun.
The Chicago White Sox are one of the best teams in not only the American League but Major League Baseball. Anybody who tries to tell you differently is just not paying attention. Well, as good as they are, they are not invincible. No team in Major League Baseball has zero talent and no matter where the Pittsburgh Pirates are in the standings, you must play hard against them. The White Sox ended up blowing a big lead in the game to end what would become the most annoying game of the year.
The Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins both lost so you can look at it as a bad night for the best division in baseball or you can look at it as an opportunity lost for the White Sox to take first place all alone. No matter how you look at it, it was a tough night for this team after a four-game sweep over the weekend.
One player who was a big name was Yasmani Grandal. He and James McCann form the best catching duo in Major League Baseball. They are both hot with their bats right now and Grandal kept it going with his two-run home run to put the White Sox up 3-0. He also had a couple of bad defensive plays in the final two innings that were costly. It was the definition of an up and down game for Grandal as they had a chance to win because of him but they also had a chance to lose because of him. Expect him to come out strong the next time is in the starting lineup.
Most of the big boys had good offensive nights but they didn’t drive in runs as much as they normally do. Tim Anderson added to his American League-leading batting average with two hits. Yoan Moncada had a big game with two hits and an RBI as well. The big offensive story besides Grandals moonshot was the fact that Jose Abreu hit safely for the 21st straight game. This team is rolling on all cylinders offensively right now which makes them blowing this game that much more annoying.
Dylan Cease was okay on the mound. He gave up two earned runs on five hits in five innings. He didn’t walk anyone which is a good sign and had two strikeouts. He is a big part of this team right now and will be relied on to be their number three starter as they head into the playoffs.
They got a break with some other scores across the division so they need to come out tonight angry. If they win tonight, they will have gone 3-1 against the Pirates and that is about what you should expect from an elite team against a bad team. It is scheduled to be Dane Dunning vs JT Brubaker so expect the unexpected.