A high-leverage situation did not seem to faze Dane Dunning in today’s 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
The right-hander inherited the bases loaded with nobody out after TJ House walked three straight batters. Ouch.
Dunning struck out Jesus Aguilar for the first out of the inning. He then got Nick Franklin to hit a sacrifice fly to medium left field and Nate Orf to ground out, limiting the Brewers to just one run. Not too bad.
Dunning then induced three quick ground outs in the eighth inning to maintain the 4-3 lead at the time.
He ran into a bit of trouble in the ninth, giving up his one earned run on the day. And even that run would not have crossed the plate if not for baserunner Brett Phillips advancing to second on defensive indifference with two outs.
However, Dunning completed his day going 2 ⅓ innings, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out two and earning the win.
As with many of these young White Sox pitchers, Dunning has good stuff. His sinker will cause a lot of groundouts if he can get it over the plate. Hello, Don Cooper.
If he can avoid the base on balls, Dunning, the “third piece” of the Adam Eaton trade, could turn out to be a nice addition to the White Sox staff in the future.