A .190 Hitter Booms Walk-off for Tribe
I'm sure this walk-off thing is real nice and all, but that's only if you happen to be doing the walking and not the watching-the-ball-land-in-the-seats-and-holding-your-head routine. Having to do that routine once is misfortune, doing it twice—in a row, no less—and it begins to look like a bad habit.
But, there it was, the mighty Jordan Luplow getting the green light on a 3-0 count with one down in the bottom of the ninth and raising his average to .194 with a 104.2-mph, 388-foot blast to left. That Gio González threw Luplow a meatball on 3-0 is not shocking. That Gio would go 3-0 on him is.
Time out for a word from our sponsor
After last night's officiating debacle, and perhaps the occasional harsh word about it, it's only fair to note that tonight's home plate umping was extremely good. So, congrats to Will Little. It is said that you only notice umps when they're bad, and that's true. Usually, anyway. This time we recognize one for being good.
Not perfect, mind you. That's impossible. But very solid, consistent and fair.
Now back to our regularly-scheduled game
This game was billed as a showdown between aces, with Shane Bieber facing Lucas Giolito, and it sort of lived up to its billing. Giolito struck out 11, Bieber 10. Both had three walks, a trifle high for them. Giolito gave up four hits, Bieber two. Giolito gave up two runs, Bieber one, unearned at that.
What wasn't expected was the sheer number of pitches thrown. All those strikeouts mean a lot of tosses, and batters fended off a lot as well. But neither pitcher had his best control, to the point Bieber left after five innings and 98 pitches, only 57 of them strikes, and Lucas ... well, Ricky Renteria decided to leave him in for six innings and a career-high 119, 76 of them strikes, despite the playoffs looming. Really, Ricky? Hope that works out.
Figuring Cleveland was prepped for the changeup that has whooped them often, Lucas went more heavily to sliders, which worked well. After a 441-foot blast by Carlos Santana leading off the second, Giolito shut the opposition down until a walk to José Ramírez, a Santana pretty-much-accidental, opposite-field double and a sacrifice fly put the Tribe up, 2-1.
The Chicago run had come on a Ramírez error on a very hard José Abreu grounder, an Eloy Jiménez double and an Edwin Encarnación grounder. The White Sox tied it back up in the eighth on a scorched Yoán Moncada triple—really good to see—and Abreu sac fly, but that was it for the offense. The Sox couldn't even score off of closer Brad Hand, whom they usually crush.
Pitching-wise, Garrett Crochet had another perfect inning, with two K's, and Codi Heuer worked around a Nick Madrigal error (on a tough hop) and a walk for a scoreless eighth. Then came González.
As for the hitting, yeesh. Of those who have been struggling, only Moncada showed life.
Luis Robert made it 0-for-26, 1-for-33 and 6-for-70 in September, with three whiffs. James McCann upped the ante to four Ks to go 3-for-25, and Adam Engel, who had been hitting just fine, got in three more windmill imitations, all helping the team to a total of 16 strikeouts.
With Minnesota's victory over Detroit, the White Sox fall a half-game out of first place, as the Twins have has won four in a row while the Sox have lost four straight and five of six. And Cleveland lurks just two behind the White Sox.
Things don't get any easier Thursday, when the Sox try to avoid a four-game sweep. Dallas Keuchel will face Zach Plesac, who has held the Sox scoreless over 14 innings in beating them twice this season, striking out 18 in the process.