The Chicago White Sox defeated the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday by a final score of 8-2. It was a good game for the team in what was a must-win game. This is absolutely their most important victory of the season as they beat the team they are trailing in the division.
Lance Lynn was the starting pitcher for the White Sox. He was brilliant but it didn’t get off to the easiest start. Yasmani Grandal missed a pop-up by Jose Ramirez that would have been the second out of the inning with a runner on second.
Instead of making it easy, Lynn needed to get another two outs but he got it done. From there, he had a much-needed good start as he has been brilliant over his last seven starts.
He gave up two runs on six hits in 6.1 innings and had six strikeouts to just one walk. He should be happy with this outing. His ERA is now below four after a very tough start to the season. The confidence in Lynn grows every day.
The Chicago White Sox saw everyone have a good game for them on Thursday.
As for the offense, they exploded for eight runs thanks to some power. Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets, Elvis Andrus, Yoan Moncada, and Yasmani Grandal all hit home runs to lead the team to victory behind their star pitcher.
Winning this game got the White Sox to within three games of the division. They now have a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers this weekend. We know that the Tigers are not a good team so the White Sox absolutely need to sweep them on the road.
Following that, the White Sox will host the Cleveland Guardians for three more games. Those are obviously the big ones that could get them into first place and then eventually the playoffs. Getting this win over them on Thursday (a one-game rain makeup) is a great start.
The good thing from Thursday is that they got what they needed from everyone in order to get the win. It was the definition of a team effort. Each hitter did what they needed to do and each pitcher that went into the game did their job. We have to hope it continues this weekend in Detroit.