As Matt Hoeppner said in our preview of this early-week series against the Twinkies, the Sox really needed a series win after getting swept by AL Central “running mate” and foe Detroit Tigers. On Wednesday afternoon, the Sox were able to take the rubber match, as Jake Peavy was solid, relieving our starting rotation woes for at least one night and also behind Alex Rios’ huge day.

If it wasn’t clear already, it should be now: Rios is the team’s most consistent hitter. Credit: MLB.com


The game started when the Sox loaded the bases in the bottom of the first inning and Alex Rios promptly smashed a grand slam way “outta here” to left field. Starter Jake Peavy looked solid, as that run support proved to be plenty. He went 6.0 innings and just let up one run, as he was able to minimize damage to none or one run anytime he briefly looked vulnerable.

With question marks surrounding pretty much all of the other Sox’ starters, Peavy could very well be “the guy” throughout this last month of the regular season. He’s showed no signs of wearing down and should be able to keep up the durability and reliability for the rest of the way.
It is of note that this win for Peavy did come over the Twins, who he’s pitched very well of already this year. And well, they’re frankly just not a very scary offense to face. So we need to see Jake pitch well soon against some really tough lineups.
The Sox’ final 2 runs also came off the bat of Rios, who bombed his 2nd home run of the afternoon over the center field wall in the 6th inning. Rios now has 22 home runs and 82 RBI on the year. With him going well, pitchers will need to keep pitching to our struggling captain, Paul Konerko who has been rather ineffective for quite some time now in the clean up spot.
Tomorrow it’s an off day for the Sox, who host Kansas City starting Friday, when Francisco Liriano faces Luis Mendoza. But stay tuned for Matt’s series preview coming soon on GrabSomeBench.com!