The White Sox have now won two series this season, and their first on the road.
It spelled bad news for the Rays, who sank under .500 after the White Sox swept them last weekend, and have remained there since. It probably doesn't mean great things for the Cardinals, either. But since this is a White Sox-oriented business, this weekend was another success.
Garrett Crochet pitched around a line drive off his foot for six strong innings, lasting long enough to pick up the win thanks to a big crooked number in the seventh.
Facing the underbelly of the St. Louis bullpen after seeing the high-leverage guys two days in a row, the White Sox took advantage.
Giovanny Gallegos, who gave up four runs without retiring a batter in his previous outing against the Tigers on April 30, gave up three more runs without retiring a batter in this one. His afternoon started by getting ahead of Eloy Jiménez 1-2 before giving up a solo shot to right center that put the White Sox ahead 2-1. It wasn't a terrible pitch -- up and away, on the outside corner -- but Jiménez hit it how he was pitched, and over how he was defended, for his fourth homer of the year.
The hits -- and extra-base hits -- kept coming. Gavin Sheets doubled, and scored when Paul DeJong dropped one inside the chalk to left field to make it 3-1. Oli Marmol pulled Gallegos for John King, but King only slowed the sequence.
Bryan Ramos greeted him with a single to center for his for MLB hit to put runners on the corners, and Martín Maldonado tried to safety-squeeze home a run, but ultimately struck out on a 3-2 pitch in off the plate. Braden Shewmake tried to do the same thing, but his bunt attempts were even worse, falling behind 0-2. The Cardinals must not have liked Shewmake's chances lefty-lefty, but Nolan Arenado remained drawn in even on a two-strike count, which mattered when Shewmake's jammed flare found ground on the infield dirt behind Arenado for an RBI single.
Ramos went from first to third on the play, and scored on Robbie Grossman's sac fly for a 5-1 lead. That's where the score remained, as Steven Wilson, Jordan Leasure and John Brebbia all pitched scoreless innings.
That secured Crochet's second win of the year, and he earned it. He allowed just three hits over six innings while striking out six, throwing 60 of 88 pitches for strikes. Only two pitches hurt -- a Lars Nootbaar line drive off Crochet's foot that resulted in St. Louis' first hit of the game with two outs in the third, and a solo homer to dead center by Willson Contreras to open the fourth.
Otherwise, true to the form he discussed with James, Crochet did a better job of using both sides of the plate to righties, which opened up inside corner and in off the plate to righties for half of his strikeouts.
The White Sox offense was similarly held in check through six, as a planned short start for Matthew Liberatore and stout long relief from Kyle Leahy ended up resulting in a line that nearly matched Crochet's:
- Crochet: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
- St. Louis: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
The White Sox were only able to tag this tandem in the second, as DeJong bounced his first double off the day over the center field wall with one out, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Ramos' sac fly.
Ramos' first MLB start was a successful one. He went 1-for-3 with the single, sac fly, RBI and a run scored. He also handled all makeable plays in the field after botching his first chance in his defensive replacement appearance Saturday.
Bullet points:
*White Sox pitching limited the Cardinals to just one at-bat with runners in scoring position, while the White Sox went 3-for-11 with two sac flies.
*Tommy Pham had his first rough day, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Maldonado beat him by wearing the golden sombrero.
*Neither team earned a free base, but they combined for 23 strikeouts.
*The White Sox are now 3-14 on the road, but they improved to 5-4 against teams that are below .500, and they're mostly below .500 because the White Sox beat them.
*Sheets joined DeJong with two doubles, including his first hit off a lefty this year. He was 1-for-13 with eight strikeouts without the platoon advantage before his final at-bat against King in the eighth.
