The Chicago White Sox came into Sunday looking for a sweep over the Detroit Tigers. Getting a series win at all over them was so important after dropping 3 of 4 to them last week.
The game was started by Michael Kopech and he had another marvelous game. He went another 7.0 innings pitched and gave up just two runs on three hits with one walk. He had nine total strikeouts once again.
The problem for the White Sox in this game was that the offense wasn't that outstanding for most of the contest. Those two runs given up by Kopech were because of a Spencer Torkelson two run blast that gave Detroit a 2-0 lead.
The White Sox were able to muster up two runs after that though to get the game tied. Heading into the 9th inning, they needed Liam Hendriks to hold things down.
The Chicago White Sox needed this big sweep over the Detroit Tigers.
Hendriks did his job as he usually does and that set up an amazing moment for the home team. Liam became the winning pitcher when Jake Burger hit a grand slam to walk off the Tigers. That big hit by Burger completed the sweep for the White Sox which, as mentioned before, was much needed.
Jake has been a model of consistency at the plate all year long. Remarkably (based on the number of at-bats he has had relative to everyone else), he has 12 home runs. This needs to keep up if the White Sox are going to win lots of baseball games.
Burger also has a knack for hitting big-time home runs in clutch moments. Giving your team a win with a grand slam is about as clutch as you can be. Nobody will ever complain about three in a row vs the Detroit Tigers. Now, the Sox have a record of 26-35, only 5.5 games out of first place.
Burger and the Sox now have an off-day ahead of them on Monday before heading to Yankee Stadium to play the New York Yankees on Tuesday. Getting this big series sweep to end the weekend has to have everybody feeling good. Anything can happen.