White Sox-The Great Dane in Parrot Bay

Wednesday was debut night. Dane Dunning made his long-awaited appearance for the White Sox, and the Detroit Tigers called up their number one overall prospect Casey Mize. Both pitchers were ready for their big moments. They both showed promise and skill in the minors and used it to baffle hitters on Wednesday night. 

Dunning had a stellar minor league career (2.74ERA 1.13WHIP 300K 266IP), and is the last piece of the Adam Eaton deal to be put into play. He was meant to debut sometime in 2019 but opted to miss the season to recover from Tommy John surgery. 

Dunning (4.1IP 5H 3ER 1BB 7K) looked as good as White Sox fans and management could have wanted him to look. All of his pitches were on display, but his curveball is what I thought looked the best. He only allowed one walk, which is great to see in a young pitcher. Dunning pitched well enough that, I believe, he has a great shot at sticking in the rotation.

Mize (4.1IP 7H 3ER 0BB 7K) had a very similar outing, and the hype Mize is getting is well deserved. The Tigers definitely have the makings of a future ace. His splitter was one of the best I have seen in a long time. Every White Sox batter who got to two strikes and faced that pitch, all failed miserably. 

The White Sox offense did do enough to chase Mize before the end of the fifth inning, with one of those runs coming off the home run hit by Edwin Encarnacion. Surprisingly, this is only Encarnacion’s third iconic “parrot trot” of the season. When Edwin is going right, he blasts shots like this all the time. He did hit a second home run in the 8th inning to give the White Sox a 5-3 lead. Hopefully, this is the game that has woken up Edwin’s bat for good. It would add even more depth and power to this lineup. 

Overall the White Sox added nine hits, three of which were home runs. The Bullpen was in lockdown mode yet again as they pitched 4.2 shutout innings on Wednesday and is getting better and more reliable as each game passes. This win was the fourth win a row for the White Sox and their second-longest win streak of the season. Their overall record is now 14-11, which is the most they have been above .500 all season. 

Tomorrow the White Sox will go for the four-game sweep of division rivals the Detroit Tigers, with Lucas Giolito (5IP 6H 4ER 2BB 5K) who will be looking to shake off his last start. The Tigers will turn to their pitcher who is having the best season, Spencer Turnbull (2-1 2.78ERA 21K 1.24WHIP). The White Sox offense needs to stay hot and do what they have been doing for these past four games and move onto the next series.

*Update: Dane Dunning was sent back down to the taxi squad in favor of Nicky Delmonico as of 8/20. Why, you ask. Your guess is as good as mine. Do the White Sox need more fielding? Is it his jaw-dropping .150 batting average? Whatever the reason, Rick Renteria did not help demystify the rational.