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White Sox 8, Rangers 4: Frazier slam caps night of rallies

Todd Frazier will likely play too large of a role in the White Sox franchise’s fortune over the next two years to have just one single game he’s remembered by. Yet still, for now at least, this is the Todd Frazier game.

1. Frazier’s 12th inning bomb with the bases juiced, his second homer of the night and his fourth hit of the night, capped off an evening that saw the Sox blow two leads and use everyone in their bullpen save for Scott Carroll.

Frazier’s clout capped off an already wild top of the 12th. Adam Eaton led off with a walk against Rangers reliever Cesar Ramos, advanced to third on an errant throw to second off a Jimmy Rollins grounder, but was possibly blocked from being able to score when Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor executed a stage fall in front of him on the basepaths. With runners in scoring position and no outs in a 4-4 game, the Rangers opted to load the bases by walking the 0-for-5 Jose Abreu, so they could set up a force at home, against Frazier, the owner of three hits and another go-ahead homer earlier in the night. It did not work, as Frazier launched a Ramos slider deep out to left for his 10th home run of the season.

2. Frazier capped off a resilient night for the Sox offense. Eaton led off the night with a triple to left-center and scored to give them a lead they clung to for five innings, and Frazier’s first blast of the night–a solo shot down the left field line–gave them a 2-0 lead it looked like they might cling to on a low-scoring night early on.

A two-out RBI single to left from Frazier in the eighth saved the Sox from blowing a badly executed scoring opportunity. With two runners on and no out, Rollins turned a 3-0 count into bunting foul for a strikeout by simply refusing to be shaken from the idea of laying down a sacrifice.

After the Rangers tied the game up at 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, a perfectly executed safety squeeze by Austin Jackson scored Avisail Garcia from third. A 3-for-13 line with runners in scoring position did not reflect the level of sharpness the Sox showed

3. Miguel Gonzalez‘s audition was not particularly impressive, but his first night operating seemingly with the part in hand brought rave reviews. Facing a Texas lineup eager to attack the new fifth starter after a rough trip to Chicago a couple weeks back, Gonzalez breezed through the first four innings scoreless with only a ridiculous two-out Adrian Beltre scooped double as the only hit against him.

4. After yielding two walks in the fifth, Gonzalez flashed some of stuff that sets him apart from the rest of the fifth starter crop, dropping a couple of hard sliders to strike out Bobby Wilson and Delino DeShields to escape. His command didn’t return for sixth, as Rougned Odor clubbed a high fastball out to right to lead off, and Gonzalez needed to be lifted with two out and two on to preserve good feelings about his outing for the night. In all, it’s the type of night that gets fifth starters new opportunities.

Leaving with a 2-1 lead, it looked like the type of night Gonzalez might turn over to the best bullpen in baseball (by ERA) and enjoy his first victory as a White Sox starter. Instead, it turns out even elite pens occasionally have trouble sealing up two-run leads in Texas. Entering with a 3-1 lead, Nate Jones lacked anything resembling his best command, allowed a leadoff triple to Odor to start the eighth and an RBI single to Beltre before being pulled. Tasked with a four-out save on his second-straight day of work, David Robertson was not any sharper. A sailing line drive to left field off the bat of Ian Desmond confused fill-in left fielder Jerry Sands, who was forced into duty after Melky Cabrera got tossed arguing strikes in the sixth inning.

Offered a second chance to nail things down with a 4-3 advantage in the ninth, Robertson issued a leadoff walk to Elvis Andrus, blowing the lead again.

5. Frazier was not the only Sox hitter to go off. Three more hits from Garcia, the brand new focal point of the offense raised his batting line to .273/.350/.477. Eaton reached base three more times and scored twice, and Alex Avila collecting a hit and two walks in his first game back off the disabled list, means the Sox lineup finished the night with five players with OBPs at .350 or higher, and none of them are named Frazier nor Abreu.

 

Team Record: 23-10

Next game is Tuesday at 7:05pm CT at Texas on CSN

 

Lead Image Credit: Jerome Miron // USA Today Sports Images

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