The White Sox twice played for one run early in this one. They scored one run the first time. The second time? Four runs, somehow.
The Sox started with the smallball in the second inning, when Jon Jay bunted James McCann to third after a leadoff double -- barely -- and a Matt Skole sac fly cashed him in.
With struggling sinker-slider guy Ariel Jurado on the mound, even Steve Stone knocked the thinking.
But when Adam Engel started the third with a double, Leury García did the same thing. The Sox were coming out of a promo read and so Stone couldn't offer his thoughts, but fortunately, the Rangers made their own questionable conservative action. They played the infield in despite trailing by one in the third inning, and Tim Anderson took advantage slashed a grounder through the right side to make it a 2-0 game, and more importantly, preserve an out.
That loomed large, because when Jose Abreu's liner found Hunter Pence in right, they still had a bullet left. Yoan Moncada, in his first game back from his hamstring injury, fired that bullet over the right-field wall for a two-run homer and a 4-0 lead. James McCann followed with a majestic blast to left for good measure.
In Chris Woodward's defense, Ross Detwiler never allowed that second run. Outside of an Elvis Andrus solo shot in the fourth inning, the Rangers didn't really square up Detwiler. The only other scoring opportunity they mustered was a bloop double by Scott Heineman with one out in the third, but James McCann cut him down at third to thwart a stolen-base attempt that held up under review.
The Statcast Gamefeed says Detwiler allowed five hard-hit balls, but besides the homer, everything clocked found a glove. The White Sox didn't need their gloves as much as usual, because Detwiler struck out eight even while only getting nine swinging strikes over his six innings of work.
The White Sox added a sixth run in the seventh when García tripled and scored on an Abreu sac fly, his 97th RBI of the year.
Bullet points:
*Moncada's successful return survived a scare. After homering and doubling earlier in the game, he stumbled and fell coming out of the box in the seventh. He stayed on a ground for about 10 seconds, but mostly out of embarrassment. He tripped himself with his bat.
*Jimmy Cordero retired all six he faced to get the game to the ninth, where Kelvin Herrera recorded a scoreless inning despite throwing just 12 of 23 pitches for strikes.
*Jurado threw a complete game from 1947: 8 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
*Eloy Jiménez was a late scratch from the lineup with a hip issue.
Record: 58-69 | Box score | Highlights
