If you wanted to know what one of the Houston losses might've looked like had the White Sox driven in more of their runners while stranding their walks, today provided an incredible simulation.
The Sox bounced back from their ugly loss in Monday's home opener with a fairly comfortable win this afternoon. I say "fairly" because the Sox issued nine walks over nine innings, but they went 7-for-12 with runners in scoring position, resulting in three crooked numbers. The first of those provided an early lead, and the other two provided the padding.
Dylan Cease allowed only one hit over five innings while striking out eight, but his form wouldn't be confused for the sharpness of his 2023 debut. He issued five of those nine walks and threw just 52 of his 99 pitches for strikes. He wasn't all over the place, but he tended to miss in the same spots with the same pitches, making it easier for the Giants to recognize breaking balls that were going to finish ankle-high.
The benefit of such an approach is that he didn't make many mistakes. J.D. Davis sliced a lazy first-pitch slider on the outer half into the fancy seats behind the right-field wall to lead off the second inning, cutting the White Sox's lead to 2-1, but that accounted for all the damage.
Otherwise, Cease's biggest jam came an inning later, and only because Joc Pederson's liner literally went through Andrew Vaughn's mitt. An inning-ending lineout turned into a bases-loading error, but Cease brushed off the misfortune by locking up Mike Yastrzemski with a perfect front-door slider to end the threat.
The Sox never trailed, and they ended up winning by a slam without the benefit of a homer.
Two-out hits did the trick instead. In the first inning, Yoán Moncada threatened to stall a rally when he struck out with runners on the corners and one out, but Andrew Vaughn shot a double to right-center for the game's first run. Gavin Sheets followed with his own single to center, which scored one, but didn't score two because Vaughn was cut down at the plate on a fine throw and tag.
Still, it was enough to absorb Davis' homer without giving up the lead, and more runs came later.
In the fifth, Oscar Colás and Elvis Andrus singled with one out to put runners on the corners, and Hanser Alberto -- who replaced Tim Anderson after an ejection -- lined a single into left. Luis Robert Jr. followed with a lined double to right that made it a 4-1 game.
While Andrew Benintendi couldn't get an insurance run home that inning, he factored into the White Sox's three-run seventh. With one out and one on, Robert singled ot center, and Benintendi turned a grounder up the middle into an infield single to load the bases. Moncada then atoned for his earlier failure with a single through the right side that scored one, and after Vaughn struck out, Sheets picked him up with another shot between first and second for two more runs and a 7-1 lead.
Joe Kelly made the ninth inning messier than necessary, giving up a one-out double and a walk, both of which scored on Pederson's two-out double to put the game within a slam, but considering the bullpen skated away from a much bigger jam earlier, the Sox had sequencing on their side.
Aaron Bummer opened the seventh inning of a 4-1 game by allowing a single, then walking ninth-hitting catcher Roberto Perez. Bummer got Wilmer Flores to fly out to center, and while the runner on second advanced to third, Bummer responded by striking out Michael Conforto.
Pedro Grifol then lifted Bummer for Reynaldo López to face the righty David Villar, López walked him after getting ahead 1-2, and none of the last three pitches could be called close. He then fell behind 3-1 to Pederson, but when he came at Pederson with a fastball down the middle in a fastball count, Pederson could only foul it off. López then threw a better version of the same pitch on the outside corner, and it blew past Pederson's bat for strike three. The Giants went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and that 0-for-3 loomed largest.
Bullet points:
*Robert finished with three hits, while Benintendi, Moncada and Sheets had two.
*Sheets with three RBIs in his first start replacing the injured Eloy Jiménez.
*Andrus' fifth-inning single was his 2,000th career hit.
*Vaughn's mitt might've given way because he made an excellent diving catch on a line drive earlier in the third inning.
*Hat tip to Jake Diekman, who pitched the only clean inning. He needed just eight pitches for three outs in the sixth, a welcome change from Cease's inefficiency.
*Anderson was ejected by home-plate umpire D.J. Reyburn in a strange sequence that appeared to be related to the new rules. Anderson appeared to think he was being quick-pitched and exited the batter's box as Logan Webb began his delivery, but Reyburn did not see the same thing and called a strike three.
There's room for interpretation, because the comment of Rule 8.05(e) says, "A quick pitch is an illegal pitch. Umpires will judge a quick pitch as one delivered before the batter is reasonably set in the batter’s box." Anderson wasn't entirely set yet, and Webb started his motion at 11 seconds when the hitter has to be fully established with eight seconds left, so we'll see if the league explains how this situation should be approached in the future.
