The honeymoon is over, and the smart fan’s prediction of a 161-1 season is dead. The White Sox lost a game decisively and they looked terrible doing it. As is often the case though, a new game is racked and ready, and this one will almost certainly be better than the last. It’s Chris Sale Day.
Sale’s first start of the season saw him pitch around one trouble inning in which he issued a walk and a barrage of singles to put together an otherwise brilliant outing. That walk was his only, and he characteristically stacked up an impressive collection of strikeouts to along with it. Last season Sale threw 29 innings against the Indians garnering his best results among division opponents in terms of run prevention. The Indians also proved themselves one of the least susceptible teams in the league to his strikeouts. That success suggests either a modification in approach against a lineup lauded for its on-base skills, or just small sample size noise.
Cody Anderson started 15 games his rookie season and the results were encouraging for Indians fans. He allowed three or fewer runs in all but 3 of those starts, and finished the year with a 3.05 ERA. His peripherals are not nearly as favorable as the immediate results. He doesn’t strike out many batters, which feeds heavily into his 119 cFIP, but his most K-inducing outing came against the White Sox. He struck out six over 6.7 innings, while walking five, which was a career high as well. Through all those walks he managed to somehow allow only one run, a solo shot by Melky Cabrera, assisting the Indians to a 12-1 victory.
The White Sox offense seems to need help. Even their modest 3-2 record belies their meager offensive production. It’s just as much how they’ve scored the runs they’ve come upon as it is the total. Currently it’s Adam Eaton and not much else, and he’s out for Saturday while his wife is in labor. Todd Frazier has lent some encouraging power, and Jose Abreu has had some early success, but he’s also yet to draw a walk and has collected a team leading 7 strikeouts. Over and over we’ll have to remind ourselves that it’s early, that things should even out to some degree. Each day could be a turnaround for somebody. My opinion is that somebody should start with today.
White Sox Lineup:
- Austin Jackson – CF
- Jimmy Rollins – SS
- Jose Abreu – 1B
- Todd Frazier – 3B
- Melky Cabrera – LF
- Brett Lawrie – 2B
- Avisail Garcia – DH
- Alex Avila – C
- J.B. Shuck – RF
Indians Lineup:
- Rajai Davis – CF
- Jason Kipnis – 2B
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Mike Napoli – 1B
- Carlos Santana – DH
- Yan Gomes – C
- Juan Uribe – 3B
- Jose Ramirez – LF
- Colin Cowgill – RF
Lead Photo Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports