The Chicago White Sox turn heads with first breakout spring training game

The Chicago White Sox are kicking into gear this spring with an 18-9 victory against the Mariners on Saturday afternoon.

Two 14-run innings powered the Sox to their first breakout win of spring training. Lenyn Sosa put the Sox up early with a two-run RBI double in the first, but explosive third and seventh innings broke the game out. 

Luis Robert Jr. and Brandon Drury blasted home runs in the third, scoring five runs in the third. Later, Andre Lupcius’ two-run homer added fuel to the fire, propelling the Sox through the rest of the game. 

Although phenomenal, the lineup couldn’t have done it alone.

Rule 5 Draft pick Shane Smith, Gus Varland, Nick Nastrini, Brandon Eisert, and Grant Taylor only allowed two runs while striking out 11 in eight innings. The rotation, bullpen, and lineup worked together to win their first breakout game, and it couldn’t have come at a better time

Small ball has been the strategy for the Sox to start spring training, and it hasn’t paid off.

Until today, the Sox had only hit five home runs and 16 extra-base hits while stranding 44 on base, 22 of which were in scoring position. Although they’ve drawn 30 walks, several from hit-by-pitches, the Sox have only won one game from gradually advancing runners around the diamond. 

With the lack of success in the past week, many have doubted that the Sox could put together a high-scoring game. But they can.

Amidst all the negativity from roster injuries and social media, the Sox finally looked like a big-league team. Although they gave up seven runs in the bottom of the ninth, today’s power-hitting-backed win has many heads turning as the Sox look to turn the corner and catch up to the rest of the AL Central teams.

Games like this are few and far between, but the Sox need to keep putting up big innings to tally more wins. As they start to stack high-scoring innings and reduce mistakes, they’ll slowly see the wins add up. 18 runs are the exception and not the norm, but manager Will Venable and the rest of the team should hang their hat on their ability to unlock something that wasn’t there last year: excitement and confidence.