Sox win, 9-2! Over .500!
Nah, no asterisk on the game. The Chicago White Sox turned a tie game into a laugher with a seven-run seventh, and put away the Royals easily for the second day in a row, completing the first three-game sweep in Kansas City since 2015.
Events not only boded well for the day, but for the season going forward. Among them:
Dylan Cease recovered from his awful first start with six solid innings, his fastball sitting 98-99 mph and hitting his spots regularly — final line six innings, five hits, two runs, one walk and four Ks on just 83 pitches, 54 of them for strikes. He left with the game tied, but the huge top of the seventh got him the win.
Nick Madrigal ended his 0-for-8 start with his first hit. And his second. And his third. And his fourth. Would've had his fifth except for a nice play by Salvador Perez, who was playing first base. The second one single, up the middle, was the hardest-hit ball of the game (112 mph). The first one was to right:
Yasmani Grandal recovered from his slow start of the season with three hits and three RBIs.
Nicky Delmonico overcame a career schneid with the bases loaded with a two-run single as part of the big seventh. There was a little bit of everything that inning:
Yermín Mercedes. activated with Tim Anderson on the IL, got his first major league at-bat, at the age of 27. He grounded out, but hit the ball well.
Ross Detwiler saw his 16-straight-outs-to-open-the-season streak end with a single by Whit Merrifield, but cruised through the final two innings.
The Sox had another errorless game, though Eloy Jiménez maybe should have had a catch that went for a double. No one but Anderson has an error this season.
And the absolutely most amazing, most hope-inspiring event of all — the Sox walked six times, just as many times as they struck out. That's right — you saw it correctly — six walks. Hallelujah!
As for that asterisk, one of many to be seen this strange season, which has to do with being over .500:
The Sox have been really fortunate so far in opposing starting pitching.
The Twins were missing their No. 2 and 3 starters for the opening series.
Normal scheduling had Cleveland's No. 4 and 5 for the next series, then Terry Francona chose to throw his No. 6 for the finale.
And the Royals are so decimated by injuries and COVID-19 that they sent out a rookie who had never pitched above Single-A ball, for his first appearance, another rookie with all of two major league innings under his belt, and today Jakob Junis, not only the back end of their pretty pitiful rotation, but fresh off the COVID-19 list for his first appearance.
That kind of fortune won't last through the season. On the other hand, when 40% of your games are against the Royals, Tigers and Pirates, if you don't end up better than .500, it's time to lock the gates and go home and binge-watch Breaking Bad.
The White Sox head to Milwaukee Monday to start a four-game home-and-home series with the Brewers.