White Sox 1, Athletics 0: Two wins in a row!

A combined two-hit shutout? We’ll take it. Although it was a relatively quiet game, the White Sox were able to grab their second win in a row after an outstanding pitching performance by both teams. The White Sox 1-0 win against the Oakland Athletics today moved their overall record to 3-8-3. One more game closer to .500 right?

Frankie Montas and Lance Lynn both showed up sharp to start, and both pitched out a 1-2-3 inning in the first. Yoán Moncada and Zack Collins both singled in the second inning, but were left stranded. Lynn made it interesting in the third inning after walking Mark Canha and Jed Lowrie back-to-back with two outs, but was able to get the next out to end the inning.

Montas ended his day after the third inning with no runs on two hits, preserving his 0.00 ERA this spring. With Jordan Weems on in the fourth, José Abreu greeted him with what should have been his first home run of the spring — but it was taken away by a perfectly timed leap over the wall by center fielder Buddy Reed. Abreu exerted some straight power on that one, so at least we know he still has his strength after his brief experience with COVID-19 back in January.

After that Moncada walked, reaching base for his second time of the game. Collins followed the trend, hitting another single and reaching base as well. Collins has been making a pretty good case for the backup catcher position based on his numbers so far, and he is definitely someone to keep a close eye on the rest of the spring. Unfortunately with runners on first and second, Adam Engel grounded out for the third out.

Lynn stayed in the game for a fourth frame, which was quite shocking considering he was already over 60 pitches, but it looks like he wants to be as prepared as he can for the start of the regular season. Lynn started the inning with a walk to Matt Chapman, which is no cause for major concern, but wildness is something we have seen from Lynn recently. He followed that walk with a strikeout to Mitch Moreland, which helped reduce the quick panic. That was the end of the day for Lynn, as he ended with four strikeouts, three walks, and just one hit to keep his 0.00 ERA for the spring after three starts.

Here is an up close and personal view of Lance Lynn looking as powerful as ever and throwing a strikeout past an Athletic.

From there, the White Sox bullpen basically took over and dominated the rest of the way. Evan Marshall came in to relieved Lynn, and quickly got a strikeout and a fly out to extinguish the A’s. Marshall then continued on into the fifth inning and struck out Reed, Aramis Garcia, and Lowrie. Aaron Bummer took the sixth and looked stellar as usual, tossing a 1-2-3 inning.

Eloy Jiménez singled in the seventh to spark some momentum, but it was quickly killed as Blake Rutherford came in to pinch-run and immediately got caught stealing second. Codi Heuer kept the game scoreless, relieving Bummer in the bottom half and striking out the side, no surprise there.

And finally, the lone run appeared! Matt Reynolds slammed a solo home run off of LHP Cole Irvin in the top of the eighth inning to get the White Sox on the board, 1-0. That was Reynolds’ second RBI of the spring, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. In the bottom half, Heuer stayed in the game and recorded another 1-2-3 inning.

José Ruiz was the chosen one to close out the game in the ninth inning, and he did just that. Although he did cause fans to squirm in their seats a little bit after allowing a two-out single to Tyler Soderstrom, he was able to get the ground out from Skye Bolt to end the game.

Overall, the White Sox pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts and just two hits in the shutout. Here are the final pitching lines for the relievers:

Of course it would have been nice for some more run support, but at least the White Sox were able to grab the win. Tomorrow, the White Sox will get their first look at the Chicago Cubs back at Camelback Ranch, and Joe Resis will be back to cover that game, starting at 3:05 p.m. CT.