The Chicago White Sox had a really nice win on Friday night as they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays by a final score of 3-2. Tampa Bay was the best American League team in 2021 (in the regular season) so they have some lofty expectations this year as well.
The win improved the White Sox to 5-2 while the Tampa Bay Rays fell to 4-4. It was a very impressive win as the White Sox look to be better against elite teams this year. It was also a win that was by a slim margin. It is starting to become apparent that the White Sox can find ways to win in different ways.
One person who has done his job, as well as anyone on the team, is Jake Burger. That was even proven to be true in Friday night’s win as well as he carried the offense to a slim victory. That is needed with some of the injuries that this team has right now.
Burger was only on the Major League roster to start the season because of the injury to Yoan Moncada. He has more than outperformed his expectations so far which is really great to see from him. You probably know by now about his long journey to (multiple) injury recovery.
Jake Burger has been great for the Chicago White Sox and has helped them win.
In the victory over the Rays, he had two hits and two RBIs of the White Sox three runs. It was a very impactful performance from the guy batting in the nine-hole. One of his home runs was a solo shot home run that gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead. From there, the White Sox held it down.
https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1515118785207975945
Combining Burger’s outstanding performance with a great game from Dylan Cease and you have a path to a win. Cease had one of his best starts ever again an outstanding Rays batting order. The bullpen mostly shut it down and the White Sox pulled off the big win.
Burger is now up to a slash line of .375/.412/.625 for an OPS of 1.037. He has one home run and 4 RBIs on the season with two runs scored. This is all mostly coming as the nine-hitter which is nice to see because this team has a lot of depth.
They are going to be facing a lot of elite pitching in the coming weeks so having this level of lineup depth is going to really help them overcome it. The All-Stars aren’t going to go 4-5 every night so guys like Burger need to step up.
Even when Yoan Moncada comes back, it is going to be hard to send Jake Burger down. It is going to be interesting and fun to see what they do with him. There are plenty of options. Hopefully, regardless of what happens, he continues to help the White Sox win.