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White Sox 6, Athletics 2: This was how things were supposed to be

Having the 53-70 A’s roll in town is, typically, a good way for everything  for operate like it was always supposed. Time was, just a Chris Sale start was enough to make the Sox look like a killer outlet, but holding back his best stuff as he sticks to a conservation plan that begun running into difficulties, Sale has run up an OK but very not Sale-ish 4.53 ERA since the beginning of July. He’s been just as likely to deliver a reminder of the fleeting nature of greatness and the Sox perilous future, as twirl a gem, so Saturday night was a bit of necessary relief.

1. The first hitter Sale faced on the night, Marcus Semien, lifted a pitch to the left field warning track, requiring Melky Cabrera to make one of his patented catches where he snagged the fly ball, glided into the wall, and then acted like he was having an allergic reaction to the wall. Sale further needed a decently struck Khris Davis double play to escape that same inning, and made his own leaping stab to stop a hard Chad Pinder comebacker in the third.

Other than that, the generally punchless A’s lineup did not force Sale out of his easy breeze-through approach, or make any big hay of the three walks he issued in the first six innings.

2. Unlike during his mid-season struggles, when the opposing lineup pushed back, Sale responded. Jake Smolinski drilled a high fastball to the wall in right-center in the top of the sixth, sending Adam Eaton–filling in at center to give Jason Coats a start in right–racing back for the first of two nifty over-the-shoulder grabs on the night. After walking Davis, Sale suddenly burned a higher temperature, striking out the next five batters in a row, and dialing up to 97 mph to blow away Pinder in the top of the eighth. He cruised through the rest of the inning to cap a scoreless night, and only 120 pitches kept him from finishing everything by himself.

3. Against opposing starter Ross Detwiler, the Sox made everything quickly as low-leverage as possible for their ace. Jose Abreu started the scoring in the first by lining an outer-half fastball for a low drive that barely cleared the U.S. Cellular Field right field fence, putting the Sox up 1-0 early. It was certainly a cheapie, but by the end of the fourth, Abreu had scored two more times.

The bottom of the order burned Detwiler with four-straight weak two-out singles in the second from Jason Coats, Dioner Navarro, Carlos Sanchez and Tim Anderson, scoring two more runs. If Detwiler felt cheated, Abreu and Cabrera drilled back-to-back doubles to lead off the third to make things more legit, with Cabrera eventually coming home on a Coats groundout. After Eaton reached on an infield single and Abreu walked, both with two outs again in the fourth, Cabrera dropped down and scooped a low fastball into right for one more RBI knock. By the end of four, the Sox had a 6-0 commanding lead for Sale with only a handful of hard hit balls.

4. Finally afforded something other than a shoestring of a lead to protect, Nate Jones got a little messy in the ninth. He allowed Danny Valencia‘s 15th home run of the year, a booming blast to right-center that reminded all that Valencia has as many home runs as Abreu in 2016. He allowed a single to Ryon Healy, then watched as a possible game-ending double play ball from Stephen Vogt became a fielder’s choice, then became nothing when a review determined Anderson stepped off of second too soon while trying to make the turn.

Under that context, Jones allowing an RBI single to Brett Eibner seems more forgivable, but Robin Ventura still decided to turn to David Robertson to get the final two outs, the last of which was Eaton’s second running catch at the wall.

5. Cabrera has been in a bit of recent swoon, but was one of two Sox hitters to collect multi-hit nights. The other was Abreu, who now is up to .283/.338/.443 and is head of him in slugging.

 

 

Team Record: 58-64

Next game is Sunday at 1:10pm CT vs. Oakland on CSN

 

Lead Image Credit: Ron Durr // USA Today Sports Images

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