White Sox 1, Giants 0: Leury García breaks through for the game-winning single

On a low-key evening that saw fantastic defense early give way to an untimely error late for the San Francisco Giants, the Chicago White Sox scraped by with a 1-0 win to open up the weekend series!

Lance Lynn found himself in a bit of trouble to begin the ballgame. After quickly recording two outs, Lynn allowed a walk, a single, and a walk to load the bases, but after some Ethan Katz magic, Lynn struck out Tommy La Stella to escape the inning.

Sharing the mound, Alex Cobb induced several first-pitch outs from the White Sox. However, when José “The Jet” Abreu hit a routine ground ball to Donovan Walton at shortstop, Pito ignited his WHEELS out of the box to record an infield single and break up the early perfect game in the fourth inning.

But also, due credit to Walton, Andrew Vaughn had rocked Cobb’s knuckle-curve toward Walton, and on its travel, the ball’s engine trailed it every which way, but Walton stuck with it and gunned Andrew out at first — keeping the hometown kid away from the hit column earlier in the fourth inning.

Yoán Moncada wanted to complement Abreu’s wheels with some power in the fifth. However, for some reason, opposing teams continue to play Gold Glove defense against our Sox. Mike Yastrzemski raced to left-center field and reached his right hand out as far as it could go to rob YoYo of extra bases.

In a game that didn’t see a whole lot of offense, Sox and Giants pitching was outstanding. Lance Lynn spun six shutout innings and Alex Cobb five. And both bullpens allowed zero earned runs, to boot.

Remember that hometown kid? Vaughn recorded a two-out double in the eighth for his first hit of the night and first hit at the ballpark he attended at least 10 times a year, growing up just about one hour away from the stadium.

In a 0-0 game and the go-ahead run on second, Jake Burger (you know, White Sox go-to pinch-runner) replaced Vaughn at second base. Too bad Burger was not able to show off his incredible speed, as Luis Robert patty-caked the baseball back to Dominic Leone, who tossed it to Belt to end the half-frame.

As the Sox offense was lulling me to sleep, Abreu drove a ball to right-center field at 102 mph with a .740 xBA, but Austin Slater (substitution for LaMonte Wade Jr., flip-flopping positions with the Giants’ Yaz) tracked down the ball for out No. 1.

And, well, Tony La Russa’s obsession with Leury García finally paid off for Sox fans. Gavin Sheets, who reached base via an error (opponents’ Gold-Glove defense FINALLY coming to an end!), was replaced for Adam Haseley. On Leury’s two-out base hit to right field, Haseley scored from second, beating the throw for the first and what would be the only run of the game to make it 1-0, Good Guys!

With Liam Hendriks not returning until the Sox are back at their own park Kendall Graveman had the closer honors, and he came through with a 1-2-3 inning for his fourth save of the year.

This was a game the Good Guys had to find a way to win, and they did! They improve to 36-39, and will look to secure a series win tomorrow.

The White Sox will get right back at it Saturday afternoon at 3:05 p.m. CT. Strong starters Dylan Cease (6-3, 2.56 ERA) and Logan Webb (7-2, 3.04 ERA) are on the mound, and I’d expect a low-scoring affair in what should be a tremendous pitcher’s duel.

Sleep well, Sox fans!

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