Jack Flaherty came into this matchup against his fellow Harvard-Westlake Wolverine Lucas Giolito with his St. Louis teammates giving him seven runs of support a start, which was a big reason why he was 8-0, and why the Cardinals won all nine games he pitched.
Bored with the sameness of it all, the Cards switched it up and tried giving their opponents a half-dozen runs of support, just to see what happens.
Long story short, Flaherty is now 8-1 on the season.
The White Sox scored two runs before they even notched their first hit, and five runs on just two soft singles, at which point the Cardinals had already committed their three errors on the night. The Sox dealt with some weird wrinkles on their end, so the game never quite loosened up until José Abreu ended Flaherty in the fourth inning with a massive two-run homer on the juiciest slider he’ll see.
Giolito was fine for his part, especially when it appeared like his night could take a turn for dark places. A leadoff double in the third came around to score, in part because Yoán Moncada bounced a routine throw, and in part because Giolito couldn’t glove a comebacker in his direction. On the plus side, Adam Eaton made a fantastic leaping catch on a ball in the right corner that had the possibility of being one of those wind-swept three-run homers before it turned foul.
Giolito then had a cadre of White Sox personnel watch his warm-up tosses before the fourth, after which Nolan Arenado greeted him with a double. Arenado took third on a Matt Carpenter single and scored on a wild pitch, but Giolito worked his way out of further trouble with a popout and a strikeout.
It was smooth sailing afterward, with Giolito retiring the final eight batters he faced for a line that suggested no drama whatsoever: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. He evened his record to 4-4 while lowering his ERA to 4.04. Whether there are further complications remains to be seen:
Flaherty had it so much harder, and from literally the very beginning when Edmundo Sosa botched Tim Anderson’s routine grounder to open the bottom of the first. Flaherty didn’t help himself when he plunked the newly mustachioed Eaton on the foot. Anderson took third on Moncada’s flyout, then scored on Abreu’s squibber up the third base line. Eaton took second on the play, then scored when second baseman-turned-right fielder Tommy Edman flat-out dropped Yermín Mercedes fly, which otherwise would’ve ended the inning.
The Sox didn’t notch their first hit until the second, when Zack Collins led off with a single. A wild pitch took the double play out of order, and while Leury García restored the possibility by drawing a walk, Nick Madrigal dropped a single into center field, which Dylan Carlson kicked to allow Collins to score easily (no error was charged). Anderson then reached on an error for a second time when Gold Glover Nolan Arenado committed an inexplicable bobble, which loaded the bases.
Eaton couldn’t get any runs home, but Moncada walked to force one in. The Sox seemed like they’d have to settle for another two-spot when Abreu struck out in one of his poor at-bats where he forces the action, but #WILDPITCHOFFENSE during Mercedes’ at-bat gave the Sox a 5-0 lead.
The Sox were so reliant on the Cardinals’ generosity that it felt like the fortunes could turn at any time, but Abreu’s homer put a nail in it. And it turned out the Cardinals weren’t done, because Moncada reached on a one-out single in the sixth, took second on a wild pitch, third on a balk, then scored on an Abreu single, which was Abreu’s fourth RBI on the night.
Garrett Crochet caused some unnecessary tension when he and his mustache faced three batters without retiring any (first-pitch double, six-pitch walk, four-pitch walk). Tony La Russa then called for Liam Hendriks who made it look so simple by striking out all three batters he faced. He notched his 10th save because he inherited a situation where the tying run was on deck with nobody out. Only three of his saves have been traditional.
Bullet points:
*Andrew Vaughn cut down Paul Goldschmidt’s attempt to stretch a single into a double in the second inning.
*Sosa should’ve been tagged for a second error in the third when he backed way up on Nick Madrigal’s grounder and made a slow flip to second, which García beat.
*Moncada nearly bounced a second throw away, but was saved by a sprawling Abreu scoop. Moncada then responded with a few impressive, athletic, off-balance throws later in the game.
*Joe West set the MLB record for games umpired with 5,376, and he wasn’t good.
Record: 28-19 | Box score | Statcast
"8" - Google News
May 26, 2021 at 11:09AM
https://ift.tt/3wwIKWO
White Sox 8, Cardinals 3: High school reunion features high school defense - Sox Machine
"8" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z1PBPz
https://ift.tt/3c1rzCJ
No comments:
Post a Comment