White Sox 3, Rangers 2: Miguel Gonzalez lives dangerously

The Rangers outnumbered the White Sox in scoring opportunities, but the White Sox somehow outnumbered the Rangers in runs.

Miguel Gonzalez danced out of trouble in three consecutive innings, holding down the Rangers until the White Sox exploited the one opening A.J. Griffin allowed. The combination created a big enough cushion for the White Sox bullpen over three innings to hold the lead and salvage a series split.

Gonzalez threw six scoreless innings, and it’s not clear how. He bookended his day with 1-2-3 innings that sandwiched jams in the middle.

Second inning: Loaded the bases with two walks and a single with one out, but induced popups from Drew Robinson and Brett Nicholas to escape.

Third inning: Loaded the bases with a leadoff single and two one-out walks, but induced popups from Nomar Mazara and Joey Gallo.

Fourth inning: Allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning, but came back with a popul, lineout and groundout.

Gonzalez racked up a lot of pitches escaping those jams of his own making, but he ended the game retiring the last nine he faced to get through six. He now has allowed just two runs in 20 innings over his last three starts, and has a 3.07 ERA since the All-Star break. It’s surprising he’s still here.

Griffin had an easier time through three, but he walked Nicky Delmonico to start the fourth, and that opened the door. Avisail Garcia reached on the first of two infield singles, and Omar Narvaez worked a 3-1 count before shooting a single through the box for an RBI.

Tyler Saladino followed with the biggest blow. Griffin hung a 65-mph curve at the letters, and Saladino tomahawked it into the left-field corner for a two-run double that gave the Sox a 3-0 lead.

That was all the Sox could get, but fortunately, that’s all the Sox needed. The Rangers went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and one of those hits was a two-run homer by Rougned Odor off Juan Minaya with two outs in the ninth. That might’ve stung the Rangers more, actually, because Shin-Soo Choo preceded Odor’s blast by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play after Minaya walked the first two batters of the inning. Despite the two runs, Minaya logged his second career save.

Bullet points:

*Danny Farquhar made his White Sox debut and pitched around a two-out walk and single for a scoreless seventh.

*Delmonico reached base three times (bunt single, two walks), and his out took out two Rangers. He hit a jamshot pop-up to the left side, and Matt Bush crashed into Joey Gallo chasing a pop-up too far for a pitcher. Gallo’s nose was bleeding profusely, and Bush had to leave the scene of the accident as well.

*Garcia also reached base three times, but with three singles.

Record: 47-74 | Box score