At least Eloy Jimenez and Tim Anderson had a good day.
For the fans in attendance and watching on TV, it was a slog of a game to stick with as Lucas Giolito couldn't repeat his success in Kansas City, and the bullpen continues to struggle. Seattle's now mighty offense powered to a 9-2 victory as the Mariners now improve to 8-2 in 2019.
Giolito was off to a decent start after two scoreless innings, but he allowed a run in third after walking Mallex Smith with two outs. The 3-2 changeup was just at the knees, and home plate umpire Mike Estabrook wasn't calling those pitches for strikes this afternoon. On the very next pitch, Mitch Haniger hit a line drive double into the left field gap, and Smith scored all the way from first base to make it 1-0 Mariners.
The fourth inning is when it got out of hand for Giolito. He allowed a leadoff home run to Jay Bruce, walked Edwin Encarnacion, and a single to Tim Beckham. Leury Garcia didn't field Beckham's hit properly which allowed Encarnacion to move up 90 feet putting runners on the corner with no outs. It's the first charged error on the season for Garcia but a continuation of poor defense for the White Sox seven games into the season.
Ryon Healy was next, and he doubled to right field plating both Encarnacion and Beckham. Now down 4-0, Dylan Moore almost made it 5-0 for Seattle as he hit a single to center. Making up for his error, Garcia was able to make a strong throw to Jose Abreu at cutoff, and then Abreu threw out Healy at the plate preventing the run.
Abreu would cut the lead to 4-1 as he hit his third home run of 2019 off Mike Leake in the bottom half. White Sox had a chance to tie it as Jimenez and Anderson singled bring James McCann to the plate, but the catcher flew out softly to right field ending the threat.
It got messy again in the fifth. Rick Renteria lifted Giolito after he struck out Domingo Santana, and replaced him with Caleb Frare. Giolito's final line was 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, HR allowed. With one out and a runner at first base, Frare struck out Jay Bruce.
Renteria went back to the bullpen and called for the newcomer, Jose Ruiz. Before the series, the White Sox opted to stick with Ruiz on the 25-man roster and optioned Dylan Covey. In his first appearance of the season, Ruiz allowed a single to Encarnacion and a back-breaking three-run homer to Beckham. Ruiz would strikeout Healy to end the inning, but the damage was done, and Seattle lead grew to 7-1.
Ruiz wouldn't leave the game until allowing a single to Tom Murphy and hitting Moore with a pitch. Ruiz's final line was 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, K, HBP, HR allowed. Nate Jones replaced Ruiz, and he let the inherited runner score to make it 8-1 lead for Seattle.
Leading off the seventh inning, Tim Anderson hit his second home run of the season. While the spotlight has been shining on Yoan Moncada for his hot start, Anderson went 3-for-4 again this series pushing his season batting average to .500 as he's 10-for-20 to start 2019. Maybe even more impressive is that he's only struck out twice in seven games.
Eloy Jimenez had his first career three-hit game spraying singles all over the field pushing his season line to 7-for-28 games. That's a lot better than Daniel Palka who is still hitless after going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and is now 0-for-21 to start 2019. Yolmer Sanchez walked for the first time in 2019, but he's now 1-for-24 on the season.
Game Notes
- White Sox bullpen now has a team ERA of 7.48
- Yoan Moncada went 0-for-5 which will hurt his league leading 311 wRC+.
- Ervin Santana was in the clubhouse before the game and is slated to start on Tuesday. With how Ruiz and Palka have performed, the White Sox can flip a coin to see who gets optioned back to Charlotte.
Record: 3-4 | Box Score | Highlights
