2020 OOTP sim: Baltimore's early O snaps the Sox's mo
BALTIMORE — The Chicago White Sox, on a five-game win streak, were looking to make it six in a row! Unfortunately, the last place Baltimore Orioles — on a healthy losing jag of their own — snapped both streaks today.
The Orioles were able to get to Dylan Cease in the first inning. Cease, coming off of a dominant performance over the weekend at Minnesota, could not start this game strong.
José Iglesias walked and Trey Mancini put runners on the corners with a hit-and-run single to open up the bottom of the frame. Renato Nuñez, on a 3-0 pitch, notched a home run to right-center, putting his team up early, 3-0.
The White Sox did rally for a run in the following inning, as Nomar Mazara — so far with decent power numbers but struggling at the plate, even protected by platoon starts — crushed a ball to right-center to chip away at Baltimore's lead.
Dylan Cease was able to bounce back as well. Through five innings, he struck out seven batters; through six, he increased his strikeout total to nine!
Kyle Lloyd, on the flip side, had 10 strikeouts through six; he even struck out the side in the sixth inning. However, Nick Madrigal was able to single and steal a base during that frame.
Neither team scored again until the seventh inning, when Austin Nays hit a leadoff home run to give the O's an insurance run and a 4-1 lead.
As what happened earlier in the game, the Sox did score a half-inning later. However, it was again only one run. Luis Robert hit a leadoff double, and Tim Anderson's one-out single drove La Pantera home. The Sox brought the score to 4-2, and TA7 helped extinguish any rally with his second caught stealing of the season.
In the ninth inning, Orioles closer Tanner Scott proceeded to strike out the side and earn his 12th save of the season.
One-win, 5.68-ERA, and player-of-the-game Lloyd was the best of himself and bested the Sox. The White Sox fall to 28-27, and they look to earn the series win in tomorrow's affair. With Dallas Keuchel starting, Brett Ballantini will hopefully have some good news involving the events of that game!
