First and foremost, our prayers here at GSB! go out to the fan who suffered a heartattack at tonight’s game. You never want to see something like that happen at anytime, let alone at a baseball game. Please keep him and his family in your prayers, and let’s hope everything turns out OK.
It was a home run derby for the White Sox tonight, as they tied a season high with five home runs to give themselves a 7-2 victory. With the Tigers off tonight, the win now gives the Sox a 2.5 game lead in the AL Central.
Bombs Away!
Dayan Viciedo continued his hot streak tonight, hitting his 19th home run of the season (Credit: Daily Herald).
The offense used the Rogers Centre as a launching pad in this one. Not only did they hit five home runs, but hardly any of them were cheapies. The only one that barely made it out was DeWayne Wise, as Tank, Tyler Flowers, Alex Rios and Alexei Ramirez all hit no-doubters. I don’t think Flowers’ has even landed yet! The Sox only tallied six hits in this one, but when you’re hitting pitches out of the yard like that, it really doesn’t matter.
Liriano on target
Francisco Liriano had his good stuff tonight, retiring 13 consecutive batters at one point and striking out six in 6.1 innings. However, Robin elected to switch to Jesse Crain when Liriano got into a little bit of trouble in the seventh, despite only being at 86 pitches. Maybe it was because the Sox only had a one run lead, but he definitely would have left someone like Sale or Peavy in in that situation. I don’t think he has a ton of confidence in Liriano yet.
Another day, another great bullpen
The bullpen continued their dominance tonight, throwing 2.2 more shutout innings. People have talked a ton about Brett Myers recently, but lost in all of this has been the performance of Jesse Crain. During this bullpen’s hot streak, Crain has lowered his ERA to below one, as it now sits at 1.96.
Finally winning in Toronto!
Finally, the Sox got a series win in Toronto. The Rogers Centre had been a house of horrors for this White Sox team up until this series. Division winners win series like these late in the year: on the road against a team you should beat. The Sox showed why they are contenders these last three days.
Next up….
With that said, the Sox face another one of those pest teams this weekend: the Royals. Their struggles against Kansas City have been well documented recently, and I’m sure the squad is sick of hearing about how the Royals have their number.
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Posted by Luke Stanczyk, GSB! Contributor