White Sox 7, Cleveland 3: One Big Inning

On a very windy day where it looked as though any minute Triston McKenzie would blow away and onto the Dan Ryan, the lack of control from the Cleveland starter ended up being his undoing.

McKenzie was erratic from the start, but still managed to strike out six White Sox batters. However, in the second inning, McKenzie walked the bases loaded and then promptly gave up a grand slam home run to Tim Anderson, who deposited the fly ball into the opposite-field bleachers.

That was more than enough offense for Lance Lynn, in his first start back from the injured list. Lynn stayed around the strike zone and only gave up three runs over his five innings in his return. Michael Kopech, who seems hell-bent on making a case for breaking into the rotation, took care of the rest. Pitching a masterful three innings of relief, Kopech asserted himself with three strikeouts.

Kopech’s only mistake pitch resulted in a beautiful spinning defensive stop and throw by Anderson that made quite the impression on the pitcher.

Other highlights for the Sox include another productive game by the maligned Leury García, who contributed the other three RBIs. Yasmani Grandal also managed to walk in each of his four at-bats today, continuing to get on base at a decent .333 clip in spite of a .127 batting average.

The White Sox hope to win the series tomorrow afternoon, with Lucas Giolito facing off against Zach Plesac. Game time tomorrow is at 1:10 p.m., with Hannah La Motta on game coverage and Janice Scurio taking the Six Pack of Stats.