Late offensive spark lifts White Sox past Tigers, Into First Place......

Todd Frazier and Avisail Garcia's game of follow the leader played out quite nicely for the White Sox on Friday night at Comerica Park.
First it was back-to-back home runs for Frazier and Garcia in the second inning off Tigers left-hander Matthew Boyd. Then it was back-to-back ground balls hit to Tigers third baseman Nicholas Castellanos, who made errors on both to load the bases in the eighth.
The latter sequence helped set up Geovany Soto's two-run single that gave the Sox the lead for good in a 7-3 victory over the Tigers in the opener of a 10-game road trip. Tim Anderson provided insurance with a two-run homer in the ninth in the Sox's fifth straight victory.
The Sox (12-9) moved to the top of the American League Central with the Indians (12-10), Tigers (11-11) and Twins (11-11) just behind. But Sox manager Rick Renteria said it would be "imprudent" to think about the standings less than a month into the season.
"This is a series just like any other series," Renteria said. "It's a long season. … We want to make sure they are fundamentally as sound as possible and … just stay focused on taking care of the moments."
The back-to-back homers helped give Sox right-hander Mike Pelfrey a calming moment after a rough first inning at his old ballpark.
Pelfrey, the veteran who made his second start in place of injured right-hander James Shields, pitched for the Tigers in 2016, the first season of a two-year, $16 million contract.
"It's always a little weird, any time you play against former teammates," Pelfrey said. "I just tried to keep my head down, not look at them, try not to make too much eye contact and focus."
Pelfrey found early trouble when he loaded the bases on singles from Tyler Collins and Castellanos and a walk from Victor Martinez. Justin Upton hit a two-run single for an early Tigers lead.
Pelfrey issued another walk before Jim Adduci grounded into a double play to help him out of trouble.
The Sox came back against Boyd in the top of the second.
Frazier led off with his second homer of the year to left field. On the next pitch, Garcia hit his fifth to left-center field, a rocket with an exit velocity of 116 mph, according to Statcast.
"When we give up a couple of runs, we have to come back with a couple, and we did that," Frazier said. "It gets a little more excitement back in the dugout."
Pelfrey allowed three earned runs on six hits with four walks and two strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings.
He then handed it off to a bullpen that entered Friday ranked second in the majors with a 1.96 ERA. Anthony Swarzak's two scoreless innings extended his streak to 11 2/3 to open the season.
Huge," Renteria said of Swarzak. "For him to be able to effectively maneuver through any lineup we've been facing has been pretty impressive. His stuff has been really good, fastball down in the zone, slider. He's been very focused."
The Sox pulled ahead in the eighth after Melky Cabrera singled and Frazier and Garcia reached on the errors. After Matt Davidson hit into a double play, Alex Wilson intentionally walked Yolmer Sanchez to bring Soto to the plate. Renteria said he did not entertain a thought of pinch hitting for Soto.
"That's a matter of him having the experience," Renteria said. "He was looking for a pitch out over the plate he could handle, and he did what he needed to do."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Angelina Jolie Credits Her Late Mother Marcheline Bertrand For Her Parenting Skills

Image
Angelina Jolie recently credited her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, for everything she’s learned and has been doing as a mother for her six children. During a recent interview with  Elle France , the 41-year-old “Maleficent” actress revealed that she strives to be the best example to her kids, Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 10, and Vivienne and Knox, 8. “She would have thrived as a grandmother. I know how much she would have contributed to their lives and I am sad they will miss out on that. I would give anything for her to be with me at this time. I’ve need her. I talk to her often in my mind and try to think what she might say and how she might guide me,” she said. Bertrand, who was a French-American actress, raised Jolie and her brother, Haven, by herself following her divorce from Jon Voight. At the time, Jolie was still a toddler so she hasn’t spent as much time with Voight. But in recent years,  Jolie and Voight have reunited with each other , and the award
Read more

Jimmy Kimmel set to return as host for next year's Oscars

Image
The motion picture academy is just full of surprises these days, isn't it?  On Tuesday morning, the academy and ABC dropped an unexpectedly early announcement that Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the 90th Oscars ceremony on March 4, 2018. This year's producers, Jennifer Todd and Michael De Luca, will also helm the show for the second year in a row. “Jimmy, Mike and Jennifer are truly an Oscar dream team,” academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement.  “Mike and Jennifer produced a beautiful show that was visually stunning. And Jimmy proved, from his opening monologue all the way through a finale we could never have imagined, that he is one of our finest hosts in Oscar history.” “Hosting the Oscars was a highlight of my career and I am grateful to Cheryl, [academy CEO] Dawn [Hudson] and the academy for asking me to return to work with two of my favorite people, Mike De Luca and Jennifer Todd,” Kimmel said in his own statement. “If you think we screwed u
Read more

This Is the Best Burger Chain in the U.S., According to Americans

Image
Burgers probably aren’t a regular part of your diet but sometimes they really hit the spot on cheat days. (If you're wondering which spot you should frequent, here are  the 12 best fast food burgers for weight loss. ) Of course, if you’re going to have a treat, you want to make sure you go with the best. Now, a new survey has uncovered just where you can find that. The Harris Poll’s 29th annual  EquiTrend Study , which measures brand health over time, had more than 100,000 Americans rank more than 4,000 brands across more than 450 categories. Naturally, burger joints were among them. Here’s what the results found: Five Guys was named the Burger Restaurant Brand of the Year by the people surveyed, beating In-N-Out Burger, which had held the title for two years. The next best-ranked burger spots were Shake Shack, Wendy’s, Culver’s, Whataburger, McDonald’s, SONIC America’s Drive-In, Smashburger, and Steak ‘n Shake. Researchers found that McDonald’s was the most familiar re
Read more