The White Sox hold a one-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central and have overtaken the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League. The four-game series against the Twins began on Monday night in Chicago, and this game was oozing with playoff intensity. I can’t remember the last time the south side saw a regular-season game this intense. The game was a pitchers duel as both teams kept each other at bay for most of the night.
The White Sox finally scratched across enough runs in the bottom of the 8th when OF Adam Engel swooped in and saved the White Sox in their hour of need. Engel came in to pinch hit for OF Nomar Mazara, who was 0-3 and has a disappointing season with a batting average of .223. It was refreshing to see manager Rick Renteria bring up the more consistent hitter, Engel.
There were two runners on with no outs when Engel came up. He tried to bunt the runners over with his first strike, but on the second pitch, he knocked a single up the middle and gave the White Sox the lead. 2B Nick Madrigal came up and sacrificed to right to move OF Luis Robert to third to batting leader SS Tim Anderson a chance to add a little more insurance. Anderson obliged and laced a double to the left-field and scored another run for the White Sox to extend the lead to 3-1 heading into the 9th.
The Bullpen stayed on point as they did through the Tigers series. They locked it down tonight after Dylan Cease (4.2IP 5H 1ER 5BB 4K) had to depart in the 4th inning. Even though the entire pitching staff allowed too many walks, they were able to limit the damage; the Twins didn’t score any runs in the second half of the game. Alex Colome recorded his second victory of the season as he finished off the Twins in the 9th.
The White Sox didn’t play a perfect game, but they showed they could win a close game without the long ball to damage. Renteria made some good calls, except for leaving Jimenez in; Eloy Jimenez playing defense in a close game is never good. More importantly, they showed poise in a playoff atmosphere when every decision is amplified. The White Sox have a two-game lead on the Twins and can’t get complacent.
Dane Dunning gets his first taste of a high-pressure game on Tuesday, and the Twins will send out Randy Dobnak. The White Sox are now on a five-game winning streak, and if they want it to go to six games, the offense will need more than three runs, and the pitching staff cannot afford to expend energy getting out of jams they had on Monday.