When this White Sox offense comes together, the clouds break, and music descends from the heavens. The White Sox came into Sunday’s series finale after losing both games of a doubleheader on Saturday. On Sunday, their determination was on full display with some historic results.
The White Sox offense was only able to get six hits and four runs combined in the Cardinals’ doubleheader. Not what anyone expected from this team coming into the season, but Sunday was a new day and the White Sox came out swinging in the first inning to give the White Sox the early lead. The White Sox were held in check until the bottom of the 5th inning but were still leading 1-0 with Kuechel dealing on the mound.
The White Sox came out in the 5th and gave their starting pitcher his much needed run support. Yoan Moncada, mired in a 0-14 slump, came out big. With two outs and runners on first and third, he could not waste this at-bat. Moncada blasted a three-run home run and the White Sox took a commanding 4-0 lead.
Next up, Yasmani Grandal decided it was a great time to hit his first home run as a member of the White Sox. Back to back jacks to put the White Sox at 5-0. But wait, there’s more! Jose Abreu joined in blasting a home run, bumping up the score to 6-0.Plenty of breathing room for Keuchel, but Eloy Jimenez wanted to put the cherry on top and make this a historic inning. Jimenez blew one out of the park to make it 7-0 and tied the major league record for consecutive home runs. Edwin Encarnacion stepped up with a chance to break the record and make it five home runs in a row, but it was not to be.
The last time the White Sox hit four consecutive home runs was way back on August 14th, 2008. Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez, Juan Uribe hit four straight home runs under the all-time favorite and world series-winning manager Ozzie Gullen. Moments like these are what makes the White Sox so much fun to watch.
Today was a good day; relish in it White Sox fans. Until the offense gets more consistent at-bats, they will continue to give up games that they should easily crush. It is not uncommon with many young teams, but this team was built to contend right now. The pitching and the bullpen have been good but the lack of consistency from the offense has earned the White Sox their 11-11 record.
Dallas Keuchel got back into the win column (5.2IP 4H 2ER 2BB 1K 93PC 1W) and did a great job of being the stopper the White Sox needed today. The bullpen (3.1IP 2H 0ER 1BB 4K) came back to its strong self after an off-day on Saturday.
It was nice to see this offense shine like it did on Sunday but the White Sox need to have a consistent week of good baseball. Starting Monday, the Sox go into a four-game series at home against the Detroit Tigers. The Cleveland Indians swept the Tigers and the White Sox should easily be able to take at least three of these next four games.
Gio Gonzalez takes the mound for the White Sox and hopefully can give the White Sox at least a serviceable start and this offense can keep it rolling against the motor city kitties.