White Sox 3, Brewers 1: South Side Stars Shine in Win

In a great Sunday Night Baseball matchup, the Chicago White Sox (59-40) defeated the Milwaukee Brewers (58-42) at American Family Field, 3-1, in a pitchers’ duel. This one had some surprises early on, and an electric ending to secure the White Sox win.

Brandon Woodruff was on the mound for the Brewers, and quickly ended the top of the first inning. Lance Lynn did the same, fanning the first three players he saw.

Woodruff got into some trouble early in the second inning, which allowed the South Siders to start a two-out rally. After a walk to Brian Goodwin, Leury García singled to put runners on second and first. Seby Zavala wasted no time, as he swung on the first pitch and drove in Goodwin from second with an RBI single to center, making the score 1-0.

With runners on second and third with two outs, it was up to Lynn to drive in those runs to extend the lead. A lot of you may have been thinking, OK, we’ll just get them next inning, but Lynn and his distant, National League background had other plans. With two strikes on him, Lynn ripped a single to right field to collect two RBIs and a 3-0 lead. Those runs would end up being the difference in tonight’s game. What can’t this guy do?

Lynn followed his hit with a 1-2-3 bottom of the second, as did Woodruff in the top of the third. The Brewers tried to start a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the third inning, started by a Woodruff base hit and Kolten Wong single. That was short-lived, as Christian Yelich was called out on strikes to end the inning.

Both pitchers kept on rolling along, until trouble started to brew for the White Sox in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tyrone Taylor continued his breakout series with a one-out triple, and was driven in to make it 3-1 on a double by Jackie Bradley Jr. Lynn did what he does best, bristling up and fanning Woodruff and Wong to end the inning and any other threat by the Brewers.

Lynn got into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the sixth inning after a one-out single by Willy Adames, and a two-out safety by Rowdy Tellez. Fortunately, Lynn got Jace Peterson to ground out to end the inning.

That would be the end of Lynn’s rather eventful night, as he went six innings and allowed six hits, one run — and recorded two RBIs.

Michael Kopech took over in the top of the seventh inning and allowed another double to Bradley Jr. with one out. After a walk to Avisaíl García, Kopech got Wong and Yelich out to end the inning.

Righty Jake Cousins took over for Woodruff to start the eighth. Woodruff ended up going seven innings with five hits, three runs, and nine strikeouts. His record now sits at 7-5, as he picked up the loss tonight. Cousins allowed a single to Tim Anderson, Anderson’s first of the series, but nothing else. We did get to see Kopech bat, which was entertaining, as he reached out and grounded the opposite way.

Kopech came out to start the bottom of the eighth inning and allowed a leadoff walk, which got Tony La Russa out of the dugout, inserting Liam Hendriks for a six-out save to avoid any further damage. Hendriks, as fired up as ever, got a quick three outs to end the inning, and the cheers from the crowd on his inning-ending strikeout made it seem like the White Sox were playing on the South Side of Chicago.

Hendriks stayed in to close the game in the ninth, and did just so even after a Taylor single to start off the inning.

This was a great way to end the week and the series, as the sweep was avoided on the road. The South Siders will continue their road trip, and start a four-game series against the Kansas City Royals starting tomorrow at 7:10 p.m.

It feels like just yesterday Rick Hahn was holding a press conference to announce that Eloy Jiménez would be out with pectoral surgery, and now we finally get to watch Jiménez in the lineup again on Monday, for the first time during this regular season. Things can only go up from here, and the momentum of Eloy’s return will be great, as we start to see some of our injured stars shine again.

Dallas Keuchel and Mike Minor will take the mound in the battle of the lefties, so we will see you tomorrow night for more exciting baseball!