The Chicago White Sox came into Monday's game needing a win so badly. They lost the series over the weekend to the Pittsburgh Pirates which was not a good look for them at all. The Pirates are a bad organization that does a lot of things poorly so losing to them is unacceptable.
With every team playing every team this year, the division matchups become even more important. In this series against the Minnesota Twins, the White Sox need some good results.
Dylan Cease was on the mound in this one which is always what the White Sox need every five days. He had another good game where he only gave up one earned run.
Unfortunately, some bad defense allowed two unearned runs to score as well while Cease was on the mound. Those are the things that need to be cleaned up going forward. The defense has been good so far this year but this game was a step back.
The Chicago White Sox had a big win earned on Monday afternoon.
The run that gave the Twins a 1-0 lead was because of a bad mistake made in the field by Hanser Alberto. A little bit later with the score then tied at 1, he hit a towering three-run home run to give the White Sox a 4-1 lead. That is how you make up for the mistake that you made.
A few more defensive issues allowed the Twins to get it within one but the White Sox bullpen was able to back up Dylan Cease enough to win the ballgame by a final score of 4-3.
Reynaldo Lopez was called up to get a four-out save and he was nails. He had three strikeouts over those four outs and earned his second save of the season. That is what they need until Liam Hendriks makes his return to the lineup.
The White Sox saw most of the depth players on this team carry the load offensively. Yasmani Grandal, however, was the only player on the team with two hits which is awesome to see as he is having a nice start to the year. A bounce-back season is underway for him.
The one issue that came out of this game (besides the tough defensive plays) is that Tim Anderson ended up leaving with knee soreness. He didn't come out of the game right away when he hurt it on a rundown collision with a baserunner but he did exit eventually which is concerning.
We can only hold our breath and hope that he is okay. The White Sox will evaluate Tim Anderson but he shouldn't be out for too long based on how things looked.
The White Sox will be back in action again on Tuesday night when they take on these Twins in game two of the series. Lance Lynn is going to be on the mound facing off against Pablo Lopez who is off to a sparkling start to the season. This is their chance to hit well off a good pitcher and get back to .500.