The Chicago White Sox are a good team. They have underperformed drastically so far in 2022. Their manager, owner, coaches, and general manager deserve a lot of the blame. However, the players also need to go out there and do what they can to win in spite of all that.
They did just that in the most important game of the season. One day after losing an extremely bad game, they did just enough to tie the series at one. It wasn’t the best game that the Chicago White Sox ever played but they did just enough.
Johnny Cueto got the start for the White Sox. He proved again that he is probably the best pitching story in the history of the franchise. He went 8.2 innings pitched. He threw 113 pitches that led to five hits, no runs, two strikeouts, and only one walk.
If the White Sox never signed this guy they wouldn’t even be close to a playoff spot like they are right now. He has come in and been one of the best players on the entire team. If the playoffs started today and the White Sox made it, he should be the game two starter.
Liam Hendriks came in for the final out of the game which earned him a save. His 28th of the season was also his 19th in a row. He is nails out of the bullpen for the White Sox and he didn’t even need to throw more than six pitches.
The Chicago White Sox earned their most important win of the 2022 MLB season.
The Chicago White Sox earned two runs off of Shane Bieber who is one of the best pitchers in the American league. It wasn’t a dynamic offensive performance by any means but getting Cueto one run was enough and he got two. The offense has been horrid this year but Bieber is also amazing.
There were two runs scored in the entire ballgame and they were both by the White Sox. Elvis Andrus made some magic happen in his second game with the White Sox in addition to a clutch RBI hit by Jose Abreu that score Luis Robert from first.
It could be claimed that they had the opportunity to score more but there was a very poor decision made by third base coach Joe McEwing. With two outs and Yasmani Grandal on second base, a ball was hit into the outfield and Grandal was thrown out at the plate.
McEwing sent him home and he made the first out of the inning at home. Grandal might be the slowest runner in the history of the sport and he was still thrown out at home. It was a tough scene.
To make matters worse, he was injured on the play as he rolled around holding his knee. We have to hope at this point that he is just okay. If he is not, you can make the claim that he will never wear a White Sox uniform again. Hopefully, that isn’t true but you never know after a very tough 2022 for him.
The White Sox have a chance to win the series on Sunday morning/afternoon. Dylan Cease is going to be on the mound against Aaron Civale of the Guardians.
It is a pitching matchup that favors the White Sox but the offense likes to make pitchers with an ERA over 5 look like Clayton Kershaw in his prime. It will be an entertaining game but it is also an incredibly important game.