The White Sox came into Monday night’s big showdown with the Cleveland Indians in second place in the American League. They still lead the AL Central by 2.5 games over the Minnesota Twins and five games over Cleveland. If the playoffs started, the White Sox would play Cleveland in the first series of the playoffs and SP Shane Bieber. No team should want to see him.
Dane Dunning (4IP 6H 4ER 1BB 5K 87PC) got his first start against Cleveland, and it was a mixed bag. He only walked one batter, but Cleveland’s weak-hitting team managed to get four runs off of him in four innings. The high pitch count is very concerning because that places unnecessary pressure on the bullpen. White Sox can’t have performances like this in the postseason sprint to the World Series.
The bullpen was also a little shaky; both Jace Fry and Jimmy Cordero allowed runs. These two should not be considered for the bullpen rotation for the playoffs. With the rise of Garret Crochet and the possible return of Aaron Bummer, both Cordero and Fry should become the last options. Matt Foster, Codi Heuer, Evan Marshall, Garrett Crochet, Aaron Bummer, and Alex Colome should be your mainstays.
Eloy Jimenez busted out of his mini-slump when he went 3-4 1R 2RBI 1HR and was the only White Sox player to have more than two hits in this game. Jimenez is a huge part of this team and will need to be ready to take down some tough pitching. Jose Abreu was able to get two more RBI’s in today’s game, giving him 666 RBI, which now has him tied with OF Magglio Ordonez for second-most RBIs by a player within their first seven seasons; number one is Frank Thomas with 729.
The White Sox fell to Cleveland 7-4 and now are only a .5 game above the Oakland Athletics for 2nd. Their lead also fell in the AL Central to 1.5 games above the Twins, and Cleveland gained a game, and they sit four games back now. It might be best to allow the Athletics to stay in the number two overall spot because then the White Sox don’t have to pay Cleveland in the first round and get the less scary Houston Astros. I will say the White Sox do have to start playing better baseball because they are 4-4 in their last eight, and no team wants to back into the playoffs, especially this year when the first series is the best of three.
The White Sox will look to get back some good baseball with Reynaldo Lopez taking the hill for the White Sox while Cleveland will be sending Cal Quantrill to make his first start of this season.