For the second night in a row, the Chicago White Sox played the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field and for the first time in a long time, Chicago’s offense looked pretty good.
Things worked out well, despite a few hiccups on defense and with their starting pitching. In the end, the White Sox pulled out a 6-4 victory. It was a nice showing that should give fans a little playoff hope.
The first run across home plate came when Jose Abreu hit a sacrifice fly which allowed A.J. Pollock to tag up and score to make it 1-0. That happened in the bottom of the first inning.
Detroit’s Riley Greene blasted a long ball that stayed in the park but allowed Jonathan Schoop, Kerry Carpenter, and Akil Badoo to score. That made it 3-1 in the top of the second inning.
The Sox made it 3-2 after Leury Garcia earned a single which allowed Gavin Sheets to score from second. Both teams were apparently ready to hit the ball on this day after a quiet Friday night.
The game would be tied at 3 when Pollock flew out to right allowing Garcia to tag up and score. Luckily for him, the throw home was a wild one and he was able to score while Josh Harrison moved to third easily.
The Chicago White Sox did what they needed to come back and beat the Tigers.
Eric Haase hit a double which allowed Harold Castro to score in the top of the third to give the Tigers a one-run lead making it 4-3. In the bottom of the fourth, Eloy Jimenez hit a single which allowed Garcia to score tying the game.
The game slowed down a little bit after that but in the bottom of the seventh inning, Andrew Vaughn, the hero from the previous night, hit a single that allowed Abreu to score. That put the Sox ahead for the rest f the game to the game.
The White Sox added an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th when Pollock smacked a home run to make it 6-4. That hit came with two outs.
Liam Hendriks came into the game in the top of the ninth innings to close things out. He made it interesting but he managed to save the game and give the Sox a 6-4 win.
Lucas Giolito was the Sox starting pitcher for the evening and he had a tough start to the game. However, as the game went on, he got much better and by the end, he was pitching very well. Giolito allowed four runs on eight hits.
He walked just one batter while striking out seven. Giolito threw 92 pitches with 64 of them being strikes. He lasted seven complete innings. He was relieved by Reynaldo Lopez.
The White Sox bats finally came alive a bit Saturday night and that was welcome. The defense, however, was a little shaky but improved as the game went on. It was a great effort by the Sox who didn’t give up at all and kept fighting.
They played like the team that we thought they would be heading into the season. If they can play this way from here on out, they stand a chance to make the playoffs.
Sunday’s game will feature Lance Lynn pitching. The Sox will go for the sweep and will please a lot of people if they can indeed take all three games from the Tigers.