The White Sox' feel-good August is now officially a winning August.
By improving to 15-10, the White Sox locked in their first over-.500 month of the 2018 season, and they did it by outplaying a Yankees squad that lapped them in a sweep at Guaranteed Rate Field three weeks ago.
While the White Sox eventually solved Masahiro Tanaka to come up with clutch hits, the Yankees went hitless with runners in scoring position. While the Sox infield turned in gem after gem, the Yankees were bedeviled by infield singles and more makeable plays.
The Sox had botched a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation against Tanaka in the fourth, swinging over too many splitters that started low. Fortunately, they didn't let a second opportunity slip away in the sixth. They loaded the bases with one out after a nubbed Daniel Palka single, a Matt Davidson walk and a checked-swing Omar Narvaez dribbler.
Up came Moncada, whose hard grounder with two outs and sacks packed in the fourth clipped Tanaka and went right to the second baseman for the inning-ending 1-4-3 putout. This time, his smashed grounder split the shifted infield and nearly split the right-center gap, too. Moncada settled for game-tying two-run double. Nicky Delmonico then avoided the drawn-in infield by lofting a sacrifice fly to put the Sox ahead.
They never trailed again, although Carlos Rodon -- or maybe Rick Renteria? -- jeopardized the lead.
Aside from a two-run homer to Gleyber Torres in the fourth, Rodon cruised. That maybe created a false sense of security, because the Sox had nobody stirring in the bullpen as Rodon approached 100 pitches in the seventh. That became a pressing issue as Rodon walked the first two batters.
It could've been three walks, but Kyle Higashioka popped out on a potential ball four to give Rodon footing. He fell behind Ronald Torreyes, too, but when Torreyes tried to get around on an inside-corner fastball, he instead hit a grounder to the left side. Yolmer Sanchez cut it off, fired to second, and Moncada completed the turn with aplomb to kill the threat.
The White Sox infield was on point all night long. Tim Anderson saved a couple of runs, making a ranging stab and crossbody throw on a Kyle Higashioka grounder to end the second, then cutting down Ronald Torreyes at home on a contact play after he led off the third with a triple.
Sanchez wasn't a slouch either. Besides starting the 5-4-3 that Moncada turned to bail out Rodon, he made a couple of strong picks, including one with a lightning-quick exchange to keep Brett Gardner off the basepaths to start the eighth.
Rodon, whose hot streak hasn't included his usual amount of strikeouts, took the unfriendly peripherals up a notch with the assistance of that defense. He allowed two runs on two hits and four walks while striking out only two.
Anderson instead was the one who made this game a showcase of his talents. He went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles, including a seventh-inning two-bagger that scored Yolmer Sanchez to make it a 4-2 game.
Then he teamed up with Adam Engel to drive the Yankee defense mad in the eighth. Engel reached with his second infield single of the game, then took second when the pickoff throw caromed off his butt. A Yolmer Sanchez grounder to the right side advanced Engel to third, but Anderson's bouncer to the right side probably should've resulted in an out at the plate.
But nope. It clanked off Luke Voit's mitt for a run, and Anderson took second as the ball rolled into short right field. He stole third on a pitch in the dirt, then came home on a wild pitch that maybe trickled six feet away from Higashioka. The Yankee catcher couldn't locate it immediately, though, and so Anderson scored easily.
Bullet points:
*The Sox took advantage of Miguel Andjujar's subpar defense at third. Engel beat out a chopper down the line despite Andujar's best effort, and then Avisail Garcia caught him sleeping when he played back on a two-hopper for another base hit.
*The Sox had more infield hits (four) than the Yankees had hits (three).
*The Yankees had as many errors as hits.
*Renteria didn't pull Rodon in the seventh, but he did pull Juan Minaya for Xavier Cedeno with two outs and one on in the ninth despite Minaya looking comfortable.
Record: 52-79 | Box score
