Mission accomplished. The Chicago White Sox absolutely OBLITERATED the New York Yankees in an epic Friday night showdown. With a well-pitched Lucas Giolito outing and with an explosive Eloy Jiménez bat, the White Sox have reached the .500 mark!
The South Siders are 34-34.
The Good Guys are .500!
Let’s go through how they made it there. Shall we?
Yes, yes, we shall.
The game did not start in favor of the Sox. Luke Voit, the second batter of the game, sent a home run flying to left-center field.
The home run by Luke Voit was the first home run Lucas Giolito has given up to a righty this season. He gave up 14 to righties last year.
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) June 15, 2019
Luckily for us, that one hit was the only damage done in the first ... and for most of the game.
To back up his ace, Leury García doubled on the first pitch that he saw in the ballgame. José Abreu followed suit to put runners on the corners with his single to left field. Jiménez sent them all home on a two-out, first-pitch, three-run shot to right-center field! Very quickly, the South Siders took a 3-1 lead, supporting their ace.
CC ya later. pic.twitter.com/YV5nvhcs2t
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 15, 2019
The home run rattled C.C. Sabathia because he threw seven consecutive balls, which factored into two straight walks to Welington Castillo and José Rondón. My dude, Yolmer Sánchez, singled home Welington. Rondón was called out at third on the play, but after a Ricky Renteria challenge. he was called safe. The ninth batter of the inning, Ryan Cordell, struck out — but not before a near-missed home run ball that hooked right in front of the left-field foul pole. Nevertheless, the Sox left the inning with a 4-1 lead!
Giolito answered back with a 1-2-3 second inning. He and the Sox are burning up.
The Boys in Black kept the fire alive in the bottom of the second. One out into the inning, Tim Anderson hustled to second base on an E-5. Naturally, Abreu doubled Timmy home to increase their lead to four runs, 5-1.
Trading spaces. pic.twitter.com/Suk9K4z2Ox
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 15, 2019
Abreu has 53 RBIs, topping the AL again. Another All-Star caliber season for the White Sox leader.
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) June 15, 2019
(Make sure to vote for Abreu and the crew! Let’s flood the All-Star Game with South Siders!)
The Sox’s bats went quiet until the fifth inning. There, Eloy hit a one-out single, and an out later Rondón put runners on the corners with a single of his own. That base hit knocked Sabathia out of the game, and Luis Cessa was the first reliever in the game. Following the pitching change and for the second time in the night, Sánchez hit an RBI single to make it 6-1 Sox.
The Good Guys topped off their score once more in the sixth. Leury scored on a throwing error by Gleyber Torres, who air-mailed a ball over DJ LeMahieu’s head. Then James McCann followed Abreu’s grounder with a double to put ducks on the pond and only one out. Two on and Eloy up to bat ... a little deja vu came to play!
Eloy OWNS the Yankees!
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) June 15, 2019
: https://t.co/NZqI3jisiN pic.twitter.com/ucK8lbr1Io
10-1 Sox!
Youngest #WhiteSox with 2+ HR and 6+ RBI in a game
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) June 15, 2019
Eloy Jiménez tonight 22 y, 199 d
Harold Baines 7/7/1982 23 y, 114 d
Robin Ventura 7/19/1991 24 y, 5 d
Joe Crede 8/27/2002 24 y, 123 d
Greg Walker 9/4/1984 24 y, 334 d
Eloy Pinwheel Power is in good company. The dude is scorching every baseball in sight!
After Eloy’s damage, Cessa was taken out of the game, so David Hale became the second Yankees reliever of the night.
As for Luc-ace G-elite-o, he didn’t have his best stuff, but you wouldn’t have known. He pitched seven-plus innings in which he gave up one run, four hits, and struck out six. He did give up four walks, but he pitched around them.
Name this man the AL Starter in the All-Star Game already! pic.twitter.com/acWFlu4uUI
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) June 15, 2019
Juan Minaya entered the seventh with two runners on base. A double-play and strikeout later, the seventh inning was wiped away cleanly.
Josh Osich and José Ruiz pitched the eighth and ninth to seal the day. The Yankees did add on a run in the ninth, but it was too little, too late.
Lucas Giolito improved to 10-1! He continues to masterfully pick apart the league, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
Ace material. pic.twitter.com/e0fvOXsMay
— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2019
Starting pitcher for the AL in the #AllStarGame? #MLBTonight pic.twitter.com/p1hEC4VjY2
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 15, 2019
The White Sox are 34-34, every player had a hit, and we are all going to bed as some very happy campers. Let’s do this again!
I will be at the game tomorrow, so I hand it off to Darren Jackson for your SSS coverage! It’s a 6:10 CT game; WGN will have both the broadcast and radio. Reynaldo López (4-6, 6.21 ERA) will battle against a TBD.
GUYS! MAY I REITERATE: WE ARE 34-34!
CUE THE SUNGLASSES!
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
Lucas and I are signing off. Let’s make it 35-34 tomorrow!