Jose Ramirez hadn't played a game in exactly one month since breaking his hamate.
He racked up seven RBIs over his first two plate appearances.
Ramirez sprang back into action with a first-inning grand slam off Carson Fulmer in the opener's disastrous White Sox debut, then followed it up with a three-run shot off Hector Santiago.
From that point on, the only question was whether the White Sox would be able to spoil the shutout bid by Mike Clevinger and Co. By the headline, you can see they didn't.
There were a couple of bright spots. Zack Collins reached base three times, with two singles and the only White Sox walk against 14 strikeouts. Tim Anderson maintained a firm grip on his batting title pursuit, beating out an infield single for a 1-for-3 night. Yolmer Sánchez had a sensational defensive game, making ranging plays to his right and left, and also starting a slick 4-6-3 putout -- not double play -- with Tim Anderson.
Sánchez also booted a relatively routine grounder in the eighth inning, so if Gold Glove voters were watching on the national broadcast, here's hoping they tuned out early. Most everybody else did.
Bullet points:
*Fulmer recorded the first two outs of the game on eight pitches, strikeout-popout. He then gave up a walk, single, walk and the Ramirez slam.
*Santiago threw 100 pitches over four ineffective innings. His line over his last two games: 7.2 IP, 12 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 9 BB, 13 K, 190 pitches.
*The Sox went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position, but the hit was Anderson's infield single. Jose Abreu had a chance to drive home Leury García, but couldn't beat out Ramirez's long peg from third.
*Clevinger improved to 13-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.39 over seven innings of five-hit ball. He probably only should've thrown five of them, but he only racked up 92 pitches.
*Daniel Palka went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, and got a poor jump on a shallow fly that eluded his sliding attempt.
Record: 68-88 | Box score | Highlights
