Moncada mauls M’s

What a fun game to tip off a long road trip!

Fueled by a ton of offense — much of it of the extra-bases variety — the Chicago White Sox powered past the Seattle Mariners in a drawn-out, 9-7 win.

Yoán Moncada paced the assault, going 3-for-4 with a single, double and triple, four RBIs, pushing his average to .305 and OPS to a delightful .898.

Unlike in recent games on the homestand, the White Sox didn’t minimize their 15 hits by whittling 14 of them down to singles; the South Siders slapped two doubles, a triple and three homers in the mix. (Turnabout being fair play, it was the M’s who minimized their muscle tonight, piling up just one double among 11 singles.)

As one might have guessed in a game featuring 26 hits and 16 runs, the starters were not good. Dylan Covey was awful for the White Sox (seven hits, five earned, three walks, two Ks in 3 ²⁄₃ innings, ending his night at a 7.98 ERA), but Yusei Kikuchi (10 hits and five earned, two homers, a walk and a K in just 2 ¹⁄₃ innings) was even worse.

The White Sox bullpen once again got the job done, not prettily, going 5 ¹⁄₃ and yielding five hits, two earned, four walks and four Ks. Aaron Bummer (two outs, two earned, two walks) was the only culprit, as Josh Osich, Evan Marshall and Alex Colomé kept things otherwise clean.

Five White Sox had two hits in the game, combined with Moncada’s three. Tim Anderson upped his majors-leading average to .334 on the wings of a 2-for-5 night and José Abreu is now at 33-116 after a solo shot in the first.

It sounds so wonderful to say, but the White Sox can secure a series win tomorrow night, one hour earlier (8:10 p.m. on NBCSCH and WGN). Dylan Cease takes on King Felix, who is just no longer himself. See you then.