For a moment it appeared that Welington Castillo had thrown the game away. On a pitchout, Castillo’s throw to second base in an attempt to nail the speedy Billy Hamilton sailed away from Tim Anderson covering the bag. Hamilton scooted to third base and would later score on a sacrifice fly to give the Royals a lead in the seventh inning.
Castillo would redeem himself by delivering the knock-out blow with a two-run homer in the eighth against reliever Brad Boxberger as the White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4.
While Castillo is the hero, a lot of credit needs to be given to Anderson who continues to play at a level previously unseen from him. Leading the league in batting average, Anderson went 3-for-4 tonight scoring two runs, flashed the leather by making an amazing over-the-shoulder catch in shallow center field, and making multiple tags at second base that would rival Javier Baez’s ability.
Down 3-0, Anderson started the rally in the fifth inning that required an instant replay to help the Sox. Leading it off with a single, Anderson was almost thrown out at first base by Alex Gordon. Castillo hit a sharp line drive to left that appeared would fall short in front of Gordon, but the multiple Gold Glove winner demonstrated his defensive prowess by making the catch above the turf. Gordon quickly got back on his feet and made a strong throw to first which initially was a called a double play. After review, Anderson had barely beat the throw back to first.
With one out, Daniel Palka walked to move runners to first and second with Yolmer Sanchez at the plate. A grounder to Whit Merrifield at second base sure seemed like it would be a double play as shortstop Adalberto Mondesi made the turn and throw. What appeared to be an inning-ending double play was later reversed thanks to the second challenge. This time it was pretty clear that Sanchez beat the throw, but Anderson didn’t stop running after he rounded third and was deemed to have progressed enough towards home to be awarded a run.
Sanchez would score from first base when Leury Garcia lined a double down the left field line. Down by one run, and a 0-2 count, Yoan Moncada continues to show off his developed approach by hitting a single to right field scoring Garica, and tying the game 3-3.
While the fifth and eighth innings were fun, the first half of tonight’s game was painful to watch as Ervin Santana made his second start with the Sox. Throwing mostly fastball’s at the beginning, Santana lived up in the zone and paid dearly for it allowing home runs to Hunter Dozier and Chris Owings in the second inning.
Then Santana made an adjustment throwing mostly sliders which ended up being the right move. He was able to last five innings allowing six hits (five of them were for extra bases) but only the three runs with three strikeouts to three walks. Manny Banuelos took over for Santana, and other than walking the leadoff hitter in each inning was effective. In three innings, Banuelos didn’t allow a hit and struck out one batter.
Alex Colome took over the ninth, and after walking the leadoff batter just like Banuelos, closed out the game with two strikeouts and weak flare caught by Yolmer Sanchez at second base. Colome earned his fourth save, and the 100th of his career.
Game Notes
- Anderson’s special night was fitting for Jackie Robinson Day. Prior to tonight’s game, Anderson held a special viewing of “42” with kids part of the White Sox ACE program.
#WhiteSox shortstop Tim Anderson treating over 75 kids to a screening of “42” to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/JdqKDpmWIP
— Rick Tarsitano (@RickTarsitano) April 15, 2019
- Plus, there is the insane level of success Anderson has hitting at home.
Tim Anderson is now batting .620 at home. He's 18 for 29.
— Chuck Garfien (@ChuckGarfien) April 16, 2019
- Daniel Palka remains hitless but he did reach on base three times by walking twice and was hit by pitch.
Record: 6-9 | Box Score | Highlights
