Luis Robert Jr. can't do it all himself, but he'll get the White Sox most of the way there.
Robert factored into all three runs scored by the White Sox tonight, and that held up as more than enough for one night, thanks to a pitching effort led by Dylan Cease.
As a result, the White Sox have a chance to take the season series against the Astros on Sunday, which doesn't seem possible when you look at their overall record.
Robert gave the Sox the lead with another no-doubt solo shot in the fourth, put the Sox back ahead with a go-ahead single in the eighth, then scored on Seby Zavala's bloop single later in the inning for an insurance run that proved unnecessary.
Cease had his best start since Opening Day against these same Astros. After he stranded the bases loaded in the first inning -- a jam that accounted for half of his four hits and two walks -- it was more or less smooth sailing. He didn't face another runner in scoring position the rest of the way, thanks in small part to Seby Zavala, who cut down Jeremy Pena trying to steal second.
He didn't get the win, partially because the White Sox could not come up with a (productive) clutch hit against Brandon Bielak, and partially because BABIP worked against them before it worked for them.
The Sox wasted jams in the first three innings. Tim Anderson started the White Sox's half of the game by getting cut down at second on what should've been an easy leadoff double, while Yoán Moncada reached second with a double to start the second, and while he moved to third on Gavin Sheets' single, the Sox couldn't come up with a hit that scored him. The Sox had runners on the corners with one out in the third, but Andrew Vaughn grounded into a double play.
(Anderson thought he had an opposite-field solo shot out of the box, but considering he's only homered once since last May, he really shouldn't leave anything to assumption in that department.)
They finally broke onto the scoreboard the easy way in the fourth, as Robert connected with a Bielak spinner for his 10th homer of the year.
Alas, that wasn't enough for Cease to get the win because two White Sox relievers experienced some Bummer Luck. Reynaldo López allowed a leadoff single, was a fraction of a step from getting a highlight 6-4-3 double play ball, then gave up a flared single to right with two outs that put runners on the corners.
In came Joe Kelly to face the top of the order, and he got Mauricio Dubon to hit a chopper off the plate to the right side. It just happened to be a chopper that rose a couple of stories in the air, halfway between the mound and first base. Kelly and Vaughn both went for it, leaving first base open as a result, and the run came home on López's tab to tie the game at 1.
Kelly ended up getting the win by pitching a perfect eighth, and Kendall Graveman converted a save opportunity in the ninth by pitching around a leadoff single.
In between, Moncada once again opened an inning with a double, but this time he came around to score. Rafael Montero tried busting Robert inside to prevent him from poking an easy grounder to the right side to advance the runner, but Robert adjusted by bringing his hands in, and he was able to muscle a fastball into shallow right field to score Moncada for a 2-1 lead.
Robert ended up advancing to second two batters later on Hanser Alberto's weak groundout to the right side, and Zavala cashed him in with another opposite-field flare to put the Sox ahead by two. It broke a streak of five consecutive RBIs for Robert dating back to Thursday.
Bullet points:
*White Sox pitching allowed only two walks all night, a drastic improvement over eight walks the night before.
*Vaughn had a game to forget. He went 0-for-4 with two of the team's five strikeouts, and 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, including the double play.
*Anderson and Andrew Benintendi combined to reach base six times from the top two spots and didn't score a run between them.
*Cease only generated 13 whiffs over 97 pitches, but he only allowed one ball hit over 100-mph, and it was a flyout from José Abreu.
*Abreu went 0-for-3 with a walk, although Kelly undressed him with a full-count fastball inside for a half-swing strike three. Abreu still doesn't run out dropped third strikes, in case you were wondering.
