López K’s seven Rangers in 12-2 victory

The Chicago White Sox chased 15 runs and 19 hits in a win on Friday with another 12 runs on Saturday, spurring a blowout win over the Texas Rangers.

Reynaldo López had a long first inning, throwing 33 pitches and walking two hitters en route to one run. Fortunately, he settled down and finished strong: In his four innings of work, he struck out seven and limited his walks to those two in the first inning, allowing just one run on three hits. Despite that long first inning, he ended with a modest pitch count (69), and his fastball reached 96 mph.

López’s strikeout rate in 2018 (7.20 K/9) was mediocre, and contributed to his FIP and xFIP being higher than his ERA. This led many to be concerned about his future, as pitchers’ upsides are limited if they struggle to miss bats. The young righthander took a step in the right direction this afternoon, as he had no trouble missing bats.

After the offensive explosion yesterday, Chicago’s bats started off much quieter, managing no runs on just two singles through the first four innings. However, the clubbers cracked the ice in the fifth with a big rally: Five consecutive hitters reached base, helping spur six runs. Ryan Cordell doubled to drive in Tim Anderson and Yolmer Sánchez, Yoán Moncada singled to drive in Cordell, and José Abreu added a sacrifice fly. James McCann capped it off with a two-run shot. It was his first homer of the spring, and the backup catcher’s his slash line is terrific in the early going (.389/.476/.611).

The White Sox tacked on two more in the sixth. Micker Adolfo reached on a dropped third strike, and after Sánchez and Cordell singled, and Leury García completed the rally with a sacrifice fly.

The ninth was yet another big inning, as the Sox plated three. The big hit there was a two-run double by Ryan Goins, who was having a rough spring up to that point, entering with a .279 OPS.

The White Sox bullpen was spotted a big lead, and they took care of business. It was a solid day aside from Carson Fulmer, who had control problems in his inning of work, walking two and allowing two hits. Fulmer did, however, leave the bases loaded with a strikeout to minimize the damage. Outside of Fulmer, the bullpen allowed a grand total of two baserunners (walks by Caleb Frare and Zach Thompson).

The White Sox improved to 6-8 this spring. They return to Camelback Ranch tomorrow to face the Oakland Athletics. That game will start at 3:05 CST and will be available on MLB.TV and WGN 720.