Sox shock: Decisive win in a must-game for Wahoos

So, last night’s game off for me wasn’t a bad one to miss at all, as Brett went a little ballistic in his criticism of the White Sox. (To be fair, if I counted out 25% of starts this season given to the recycling and trash bins, it could have gotten colorful, too.)

Thankfully, tonight was a very different story, starting on the second pitch of the White Sox first, when Leury García clocked a homer to give Chicago a lead it would not relinquish. No matter how dour the pitching matchup of Ross Detwiler vs. Shane Bieber looked, the South Siders managed to make this win pretty much a no-doubter, 8-3.

The loss for Cleveland ensured a defeat in the season series with the White Sox with one game left to play, and clinched the AL Central for the Minnesota Twins. The Wahoos now trail in the wild card race by 1 ½ games, and with a series looming in Washington with the Nasty Nats still playing for home field and no DH, a loss on Thursday to the White Sox might scuttle Cleveland’s season. (#goals)

So, tonight was the Tim Anderson show. He singled in his first four at-bats, before lining out to second base for his only out of the game, leading off the eighth inning. In the process, our shortstop shot his average up to .339, increasing his lead in the AL batting title to 11 points, in the major league title to 10. Oh, and take a look at his ballsy stretch run to the title:

In other title news, José Abreu went 3-for-5 with an RBI, giving him 122 for the season. He trails MLB leader Anthony Rendon by two, but maintains a seven-RBI lead on Rafael Devers, which is a lot to make up in a long weekend.

Detwiler didn’t exactly outpitch Bieber, but the lefty earned the win and actually lowered his season ERA to 6.85 with a five-inning, five-hit, three-earned outing. After the opener debacle authored by Carson Fulmer and Hector Santiago last night, Detwiler twirling an efficient 65 pitches over five frames was just what the bullpen ordered.

After an uncharacteristic 1 ⅓ innings from Evan Marshall, Ricky Renteria turned the Quest for 69 into his personal playoff play-in game hell, shuffling in four arms to get through the final 2 ⅔ innings. All’s well that ends, though, and Alex Colomé got Francisco Lindor to keep chasing low, earning his 30th save on the season with a game-ending K.

What a delightful game, just one night after a true lowlight.

I’m not going to mess with the MVP poll tonight, because it’s TA, no contest. So how about a twist, given our patchwork team has beating the mighty Wahoos in the season series:

In what is now a must-win getaway game for Cleveland tomorrow, Dylan Cease will take the mound for the White Sox. Cease sports a 3.00 ERA in his four September starts. Game time is 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH+ and WGN-AM.