Here goes the traditional watched-from-work bullet-point recap. As always, fill in whatever details (and tags) I might've missed.
*The White Sox were dreadful again in scoring position (0-for-9), but one swing by Matt Davidson made the day's struggles moot. He followed up Jose Abreu's one-out single by socking a two-run shot to just left of center. It accounted for the White Sox' only two runs, that's all they needed to end their five-game losing streak.
*James Shields survived some horrendous control early to throw a strong 6⅓ innings. He issued five walks, but they all came in the first two innings. He eventually found his fastball command, which allowed him to start mixing in a heaping helping of curveballs ranging from slow to slower.
*Shields also benefited from more unproductive baserunning from Mallex Smith. After stranding three walks in the first inning, Shields had Smith on third and Adeiny Hechavarria on second with one out. Shields deescalated the situation by picking off Smith, with the tag applied after a one-out rundown. It was the third time Smith had been cut down between third and home during the series.
Shields then put runners on the corners with his fifth and final walk, but Kevin Kiermaier lined out to Nicky Delmonico in left to end the threat.
*As it stood, Shields only allowed one run. He piped a full-count fastball to C.J. Cron with two outs in the fifth, and he sent it from whence it came, rifling a double to the center-field wall to drive home Kiermaier from first.
*Smith also helped out the Sox on the defensive end. With one out, he dropped Omar Narvaez's shallow fly ball, then doubled up on errors by firing low and wide to second base. Narvaez had already retreated to first as the throw was coming in, but he advanced to third as Smith's heave settled in right-field foul territory.
And yet the Sox didn't score. Leury Garcia was plunked with one out while squaring around, and Yoan Moncada followed with the same idea. He pulled his bat back, though, which was a problem since Narvaez had committed to home on a suicide squeeze. The mixed signals resulted in Narvaez getting tagged out, and Moncada struck out to end the inning.
*The Sox also squandered a leadoff double by Avisail Garcia in the fifth. Jose Abreu's fly took Kiermaier to the warning track to move Garcia to third, but Davidson watched a curve for strike three, Delmonico walked, and Yolmer Sanchez grounded out hard to third.
*The White Sox bullpen combined for 2⅔ hitless, scoreless innings. Luis Avilan struck out both batters he faced, and Bruce Rondon pitched a 1-2-3 inning in his second Sox appearance.
*Nate Jones was warming in anticipation of a close game one way or another, so Rick Renteria sent him in for the save. Jones walked Matt Duffy, then fell behind 2-0 to Smith before a mound visit. Smith extended the count to 3-1, watched a fastball over the heart of the plate for strike two, then chased ball four for strike three.
Instead of two on and nobody out, Jones had one on and one out. He only needed four more pitches to nail down the save, striking out Hechavarria on three sliders and getting Jesus Sucre to ground out to second.
*Gregory Infante was demoted to Charlotte after the game, with a corresponding move coming before Thursday's opener in Minnesota.
Record: 4-7 | Box score
