At this point in the season, the White Sox probably have prepared for Lance Lynn to throw an ugly five innings each time he takes the mound. Maybe six.
The ability to spare the bullpen an inning or two is about the only way a guy can have a 6.40 ERA and be moderately useful, and that utility requires the White Sox offense to step up. For most of the season, it hasn't.
Today, it did.
It's not just the fact that the White Sox offense rallied to bail out Lynn, but how they rallied. After falling behind 4-1 on three Angel homers through two innings, the White Sox scored six runs in the top of the third entirely on singles, a walk and a hit by pitch. In fact, the Sox would've gone without an extra-base hit all game were it not for Mike Trout, who unsuccessfully sold out for a sinking Andrew Vaughn line drive for a high-leverage out and turned a single into a triple.
Lynn, who gave up five runs through three, ended up finishing six. He picked up his sixth win, even though his ERA rose to 6.47. He's allowed 22 homers over 96 innings. This is just how it has to be.
Between losing the first two games of the series and falling behind early, the White Sox took the long way toward salvaging a split. Welcome contributions from an unorthodox top of the order got the line moving.
Zach Remillard, batting leadoff in place of Andrew Benintendi against lefty starter Patrick Sandoval, started the third with a single, and Tim Anderson, who came into the game hitless in his last 24 at-bats, followed with his second single in three innings. Luis Robert Jr. walked to load the bases, and Eloy Jiménez sliced a single to center to score Remillard.
Andrew Vaughn provided the mandatory scare with a strikeout, but Yasmani Grandal waited back on a high curve and spanked it through the right side past a diving Brandon Drury for two more runs, tying the game at 4.
Jake Burger popped out to keep Jiménez at third temporarily, but Clint Frazier, who came into the game in a 1-for-21 slump, followed Grandal's lead by shooting a breaking ball through the right side to put the Sox ahead. Seby Zavala then took a curveball for the team to load the bases, and Remillard finished what he started by muscling an inside-corner fastball to shallow right field for two more runs and a 7-4 lead.
Had the White Sox not scored two runs in the top of the ninth -- Luis Robert Jr. stole two bases after an HBP, then scored on Vaughn's single/triple, followed by the second instance of #WILDPITCHOFFENSE -- perhaps those would've been all the runs the Sox needed. But because they had a little extra margin to pitch to the score, Kendall Graveman gave up a two-run homer to Shohei Ohtani with two outs in the ninth for fan service.
Lynn, who gave up three homers on fastballs lacking velocity and command -- a four-seamer at 92, one at 90, and a cutter at 89 -- committed to his slider to get out of a third inning having only allowed one run after allowing the first two hitters to reach. He then was able to reset his arsenal by going cutter-first, and he ended up retiring 12 of the last 14 batters he faced, and 12 of the 13 he pitched to. The exception was Trout, who doubled with two outs in the fourth, setting up an intentional walk to Ohtani.
A similar situation unfolded in the seventh with Joe Kelly on the mound. He gave up a leadoff single to Trout, and when Trout took second on a 2-1 wild pitch, he opted for a pitcharound walk. Caution paid off, because Drury flied out to right, and then Mike Moustakas grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Had Trout reached on Graveman with the Sox leading 7-5, he probably would've been walked for a third time.
The White Sox offense went silent after the third inning as well, although Trout robbed Vaughn of a homer with a matter-of-fact leaping catch at the center-field wall to take a run off the board in the fourth. I suppose it's only fair that Trout met him in the middle by spotting him two extra bases in the ninth. A true compromise leaves neither side happy.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox are now a respectable 3-5 this season when allowing four homers, which offsets their 3-2 record when hitting four homers.
*The White Sox are now 1-3 when striking out 16 times in a game, which puts a dent in their 0-4 record when their pitchers strike out 16 batters.
*Remillard reached base three times, and had another walk denied when a full-count pitch outside was called strike three.
*The White Sox went 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position. The Angels were 0-for-9.
*Ohtani finishes the season series against the White Sox with seven homers in seven games, making it a minor miracle that the Sox went 3-4.
