1. Pretty much all of the action in this game occurred in the second inning, and all with two outs. Pineda retired the first five batters of the night and he fell right into his usual modus operandi: losing command with two outs. A Brett Lawrie single and Dioner Nivarro walk put runners on first and second, and Avisail Garcia drew first blood by hitting an RBI single to left field. The Sox may have been robbed of a run after J.B. Shuck hit a ground rule double (so only one run could come in), but Tim Anderson made that moot as he hit a double to knock in another two. It was such a great at-bat from Anderson; with two strikes, he capitalized on the hanging slider and knocked it down the left field line. The Sox would grab a 4-0 lead after that inning, and they wouldn’t look back.

2. It’s kind of funny that Pineda settled down after that inning, but he did. Nonetheless, the Sox were able to tack on one insurance run in the sixth. Melky Cabrera walked with one out, and Todd Frazier hit a line-drive single that allowed Cabrera to move to third. Lawrie hit a grounder to the left side of the infield, and Didi Gregorius made a wondrous play that fell just short. He dove, made an accurate throw to second, but Starlin Castro bobbled the ball on the transfer to nix the double play.

3. Gonzalez, unlike Pineda, did not have a meltdown inning. In fact, he didn’t really allow much of anything. He allowed just five hits and a walk over seven innings, while striking out three in the process. He only had multiple base runners in the first inning, and he got out of that without a scratch. Every other base runner came isolated within an inning, and he generated weak contact after weak contact. It’s really nice to see that Gonzalez has settled into the back end of the rotation. He now has a 4.39 ERA/4.30 FIP on the year. That’s all you can ask for from non-Chris Sale/Jose Quintana pitchers on this team.

4. The bullpen had an easy time of it to close this one out. Zach Duke allowed a single to Jacoby Ellsbury in the eighth, but nothing else, and then just allowed a single to Brian McCann in the ninth before being replaced by David Robertson with one out. Robertson allowed a single to Castro, but quickly got two quick outs to end things.

5. Winning two out of three against a comparably talented team is a great outcome, and they’ll hopefully carry that momentum to their next series against the Braves, who are currently 28-57. Game one of the series is on Friday; Sale will face Matt Wisler at 7:10 PM CT.

Team record: 44-41

Lead Image Credit: Mike Dinovo // USA Today Sports Images

Sure, it might seem a little spoiled acting like winning three of four is a bad thing, but this team is sliding and sliding fast, and winning this game would have been a huge boon, both in the standings and for morale. They would have gone a game over .500, and bee just five back of the Indians. Instead they slip backwards again, this time because of the still-awful bullpen. James Shields pitched a decent five-inning, three-run performance, but the bullpen tire fire stew of Matt Albers, Dan Jennings, and Chris Beck allowed four runs and seven base runners over just three innings. Then, to put a cherry on top, Matt Purke allowed the winning blow in extra innings.

1. In the early going, Shields looked like his old self. He got through the first four innings without a scratch, and it looked like it could have been a good day. He allowed one run in the fifth on a two-out Dustin Pedroia RBI double following a Mookie Betts single, and then he let his day unravel in the sixth.

2. Offensively, by that point the White Sox were able to put a four-spot on the board: they put two on the board in the first inning off of Rick Porcello as he loaded the bases to start the game, then he allowed a Melky Cabrera double play and a wild pitch to bring home two. The Sox picked up another in the fourth on a J.B. Shuck RBI single in the fourth, followed by a Todd Frazier sac fly in the sixth that scored Cabrera after a leadoff triple. As far as offensive days goes, this was not a bad one.

3. Back to that dreaded sixth inning: Shields walked both David Ortiz and Ryan LaMarre to start off the inning, and was immediately pulled for Albers. You know what’s coming next: Albers hit Jackie Bradley Jr., then allowed an RBI single to Hanley Ramirez. Brett Lawrie also threw the ball away on the play, so two runs were able to score. Albers followed up allowing an RBI single to backup catcher Sandy Leon, and Jennings came on and allowed one more tally on a Marco Hernandez force out so the Red Sox could take a 5-4 lead.

4. This is where things got weird. The White Sox got a huge blast in the top of the seventh–Jose Abreu hit a monster three-run home run to give them a 7-5 lead–but the bullpen gave it right back. Robin Ventura brilliantly brought in Beck in the seventh to face the heart of the order, and it was almost disastrous. Beck loaded the bases to start the inning, but somehow squeaked out of it by only allowing a run on a Travis Shaw sac fly that nearly missed being a grand slam. Nate Jones came in for the eighth, and he allowed the tying run when Hernandez doubled, and was driven home by a Pedroia single with two outs. David Robertson worked a scoreless ninth after getting into trouble, and the Sox were able to survive into extra innings. In the tenth, the White Sox had a golden opportunity to beat Craig Kimbrel after he loaded the bases to start the inning, but a pop out from Shuck and two strikeouts ended the threat. In the bottom of the tenth, the bullpen was finally toast: Purke put runners on first and second with one out, and Xander Bogaerts knocked home the winning run.

5. The White Sox are heading home, and they will be taking on the Toronto Blue Jays for a three-game set. Game one will be at 7:10 CT Friday, and Carlos Rodon will face Aaron Sanchez.

Team record: 36-37

Lead Image Credit: Greg M. Cooper // USA Today Sports Images

Miguel Gonzalez shut down an imposing Red Sox team, but Steven Wright was better. But even with all of the elements of a prototypical White Sox loss, they still won, and that’s because they got lucky. Craig Kimbrel laid an egg, and Jose Abreu saved the day. A win is a win is a win is a win, so I’ll take it. Here’s how we got there.

1. Gonzalez, as we all know, has good nights and bad nights. He’s had clunkers, like his three and a third inning, seven-run performance against the Tigers six days ago, and he’s also had highs, like his one-run performance against the Nationals on June 9th. He’s been serviceable with his 4.29 ERA and 4.12 FIP, and he probably had his best start of the season Monday night, against arguably the best offensive club in baseball. He allowed just one earned run over six and two-thirds innings, and he ran into trouble just twice all game, in the third and the seventh. In the third he allowed back-to-back singles to Christian Vazquez and Marco Hernandez, but got Mookie Betts to ground out and Xander Bogaerts to pop out. And in the seventh inning he allowed a single to Chris Young and a walk to Travis Shaw with two outs, then Vazquez redeemed himself by knocking in the game-tying single. Gonzalez will get the no-decision, but it’s a win in my book. Nice work, Miguel.

2. If Gonzalez was very good, then Wright was great. Wright absolutely baffled Sox hitters, and it wasn’t just because the Sox have struggled in general offensively. Coming into this game, Wright has the lowest ERA and fourth-lowest FIP in the American League. Baseball is weird, man.

He didn’t slow down Monday night, as he allowed just one unearned run over a full nine innings. That only run was because Vazquez let up a passed ball in the second, and he didn’t really have issues until the top of the ninth. After getting Abreu to fly out, he allowed an infield single to Melky Cabrera, and then a walk to Todd Frazier. He was able to strike out Lawrie, and then got Alex Avila to weakly ground out. It was a simply masterful performance; you can only tip your cap.

3. The bullpen, other than a brief moment of chaos, was actually pretty good. Nate Jones relieved Gonzalez, and he retired four straight while striking out one. He continues to be an excellent part of the back-end of the pen, and I hope he gets called for more four-out opportunities in the future. He now has a 2.84 ERA on the year. In the bottom of the ninth, Zach Putnam came in to relieve Jones, and there’s your first red flag. Where’s David Robertson? He threw two-thirds of an inning yesterday, and an inning on June 15th. That’s it. I get that he’s struggling, but he’s your best reliever. You put him in a tie game in the ninth, even on the road. Instead, Putnam proceeded to walk three straight batters to load the bases. Zach Duke decided to play magician, though, and retired three straight Red Sox hitters to escape the jam. Oh. My. God.

Ventura made a huge mistake, and he got away scot-free. Unbelievable.

4. In extra innings. Kimbrel came in, which typically means all hope  is lost. Instead, the Sox completely redeemed themselves for their prior transgressions. Kimbrel walked Avisail Garcia and allowed a base hit to J.B. Shuck to start the inning, but quickly got a Tim Anderson strikeout and Adam Eaton ground out to bring the inning to within an out of ending. Abreu was the hero, though, as he lined a two-out, RBI double to right field to bring both Garcia and Eaton home. Robertson came in when Ventura wanted him in–with a lead–and he faced just four Red Sox hitters to finish the game in the tenth. What a wild game.

5. The Sox will take on the Red Sox once again, and they’ll have Chris Sale to face Clay Buchholz. The game will start at 6:10 PM CT, and you can catch it on CSCh, NESN, or MLB.tv.

Team record: 34-36

Lead Image Credit: Winslow Towson // USA Today Sports Images

1. Quintana, per usual, was good. In fact, he didn’t face more than four batters in an inning until the eighth, his last inning of the afternoon. He made exactly three mistakes: two solo home runs to Cheslor Cuthbert (in the third and eighth), and another solo shot to Kendrys Morales in the fifth. In total he allowed just six hits, striking out 10 (!) and walking none (!!). Allowing home runs are never good, obviously, but this loss was not his fault.

2. The offense, as has been the case since the end of their hot stretch, was putrid. Just like there wasn’t much to report on Quintana’s end, there isn’t much to say other than: Danny Duffy was great. He allowed just three hits over six innings, walking three and striking out 10. The Sox actually got a chance to score off of Duffy way back in the first inning, as a lead off walk from Adam Eaton and a subsequent Jose Abreu single put runners on first and second with no one out. Naturally, Robin Ventura had Melky Cabrera sacrifice bunt, and Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie followed that up with a strikeout and line out. Hey, guys: don’t bunt in the first inning — or with your No. 3 hitter. They also put a runner in scoring position in the third with two outs, but Lawrie struck out. They’d get a chance later on, but it’d prove to be too little, and too late.

3. The white flag crew came in the form of Matt Purke and Tyler Danish, and Danish allowed a run on three hits and one walk. It didn’t matter, but that tack-on run against a division rival always irritate.

4. Not only do the tack-on runs irritate, but a last-minute run that doesn’t change the outcome bothers me just as much. It would have been nice to see a run back in the first, thank you very much. The typical Royals relief crew came in — Joakim Soria, Kelvin Herrera, and Wade Davis — and the Sox were able to come away with just a run. Both Soria and Herrera worked a clean seventh and eighth, and then Davis allowed a run on a couple of hits from Frazier and Avisail Garcia. Once again, save that for before garbage time.

5. The White Sox are now back to .500, and that stinks. They have really faltered for this past month and change, and they now find themselves four games back of first place. The real question is: how much longer can they tread water before they make another deal, one of substance, that can stop the bleeding? The Sox will take on the Royals for the final game of the three-game set; Carlos Rodon will face Yordano Ventura at 1:10 p.m. CT.

Team record: 31-31

Lead Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

1. Have yourself a day, Rodon. I know a lot of fans are impatient and want him to have immediate success, but pitching development takes some time, especially when you’re just 23 years old. On Sunday, though, Rodon was sharp. It looked like he would run into some of his early woes again in the second inning, but he worked out of it. After allowing lead off hits to Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez, he got Alex Gordon to ground into a double play, and only allowed one run to score on a Paulo Orlando RBI single. He also ran into a bit of trouble in the sixth, as he allowed runners to get on second and third with one out, but only allowed one run on an Omar Infante sacrifice fly. Overall, Rodon had a very nice day: 6 2/3 innings, four strikeouts, two walks, eight hits, and just those two earned runs. His ERA now sits at 4.47. Oh yeah, and the slider looks good:

#Awkward pic.twitter.com/a41x56mNEl

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) May 22, 2016

2. We all know the offense is slumping immensely. The last time the White Sox have had a multi-run inning was on Tuesday against the Astros, and they have just scored 12 runs total in that span. They didn’t fully break out of the slump, but at least they got the multi-run inning. Todd Frazier hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth against Yordano Ventura, and Melky Cabrera hit a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth after the Sox loaded the bases with two outs. That was a funny situation, and not a great decision from Ventura: with runners on second and third and two ours, he essentially unintentionally-intentionally walked Frazier to bring up Cabrera, who clearly has the platoon advantage there. Cabrera took advantage, and it gave them the lead.

3. The Sox had a couple of opportunities to pick up an insurance run after the Cabrera hit, but nothing came of it. They put a runner on third with one out in the sixth after a Brett Lawrie double and a sac bunt, but nothing. They put a runner on second with two outs in the seventh, but also nothing. Even though the Sox won this game, the offensive slumber isn’t over.

4. The bullpen did a really nice job piecing the win together after Rodon was pulled in the seventh. Matt Albers picked up the final out of the inning by striking out Lorenzo Cain, then Zach Duke induced a pop out from Hosmer. Nate Jones struck out Perez and Whit Merrifield, and then David Robertson worked a one-two-three ninth inning to get the save.

5. The Sox have a very, very important stretch of baseball coming up, as they’ll take on the Cleveland Indians for a four-game set (over three days) at home. There will be a doubleheader tomorrow, and the action will start at 4:10 p.m. CT. Mat Latos will face Mike Clevinger in Gane 1, and Erik Johnson will face 26th man Cody Anderson in Game 2.

Team record: 26-18

Lead Photo Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

1. So Latos, as I mentioned, is not that good. Coming into this game he may have had a 3.40 ERA and 5-0 win-loss record, but any informed reader knows that’s deceiving. He has a 5.07 FIP after this start, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 1.29. It’s not good, and it showed tonight. He allowed five earned runs over just five and one-third innings, and he allowed two home runs in the process, to Colby Rasmus and Jason Castro in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. Other than those two solo shots, he got into trouble… in essentially every inning other than the third. In the first he allowed a single to Jose Altuve, a walk to George Springer, and a run-scoring single to Carlos Correa to bring in one; in the second a Castro single, a Tony Kemp double, and an Altuve ground out led to another run; and in the fourth he allowed a walk to Castro, a single to Kemp, and then a run-scoring single to Altuve.

2. On the scoring end, there wasn’t much. It looked like the Sox could have had Fister on the ropes as early as the first inning, but they only got one run out of the affair: Adam Eaton singled but got thrown out at second, Jimmy Rollins hit a double off the wall, then Jose Abreu drove Rollins home. Todd Frazier walked, but then Melky Cabrera grounded into a double play to end the threat. Cabrera would have his revenge, though, in the sixth: Frazier hit a one-out single, then Cabrera hit a triple to pick up an RBI. Cabrera is now up to 117 wRC+ on the year, so it’s really nice to see him positively regress this year. The Sox would actually get a total of nine hits against Fister over his six and two-thirds innings; he also allowed one walk and picked up five strikeouts. It was classic, “hits were falling, but not in sequence” type of night, and it bought the Astros enough time to get to Ken Giles and the bullpen.

3. Before I get to the rest of this recap, can we pause for a second and appreciate this triple play in the top of the eighth?

pic.twitter.com/gQo3zyKfK1

— Matt Provenzano (@mattprov94) May 19, 2016

This was the team’s second triple play of the year, which is pretty crazy considering how rare that is. It was the first time the White Sox have had multiple triple plays in a season since 2006.

4. So, back to the game. The rest was actually quite bad. Giles came in with essentially no command, walking Eaton and allowing an RBI single to Abreu, but got Frazier to fly out to end the inning. Will Harris worked a clean bottom of the eighth, then Luke Gregerson closed it out.

5. The Sox have now lost six of their last eight, in case you haven’t noticed. That was bound to happen with the roaring start, so I wouldn’t look too closely into it. This was a team that banked a ton of wins early in the year, and was going to slow down a bit eventually. It’s back to Chris Sale tomorrow at 7:10 PM CT against Collin McHugh, so they have a shot to turn it around.

Team record: 24-16

Lead Image Credit: Mike Dinovo // USA Today Sports Images

1. There was a chance that Quintana would unravel early on in this game, but he straightened out. After working a quick first inning and getting the first two outs in the second, he ran into some trouble. First he walked Chase Headley, and Aaron Hicks followed with a booming double to center field which allowed Headley to score. Then Didi Gregorius knocked Hicks home on a base hit, making the score 2-0. The Sox caught a break when Austin Romine hit a ground-rule double, a play in which Gregorius would have scored easily had the ball not bounced over the wall. Quintana managed to induce a ground out from Brett Gardner ending the threat with runners on second and third.

2. Todd Frazier hit a home run. Are we surprised? Of course not. It was a straight line drive dinger over the left-center field wall, and it brought the Sox within a run in the fourth inning. Unfortunately, it was the last time they would score on the day. Frazier is now up to .221/.313/.507 with 12 home runs. It’s so nice to have an infielder who rakes.

3. Other than the Frazier home run, there was not much else going on offensively. Nova was surprisingly good despite his 4.34 ERA coming into this game; it seems like the Yankees have made him more of a two-pitch pitcher (sinker and curveball) and it was a successful approach today. Nova allowed just the one run on four hits and a walk over five and two-thirds innings.

4. The Yankees’ lead into the sixth, combined with their desperation to pick up a win against Quintana, led to an early look to their shutdown bullpen. Dellin Betances came in to pick up four outs (four strikeouts), Andrew Miller picked up three (two strikeouts), and then Aroldis Chapman finished up for the save (two strikeouts). Luckily for the White Sox, they won’t have to face all three tomorrow.

5. Despite the victory with Chris Sale on the mound last night, this was a little disappointing. Nova is not the best pitcher in the world, so failing to score more than one run against him really ended this game in the sixth inning with that bullpen waiting in the wings. They still have a shot to win the series tomorrow, as Miguel Gonzalez will take on Masahiro Tanaka at 12:05 CT.

Team record: 24-13

Lead Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

1. The Yankees entered the game hitting just .245/.325/.358 against left-handed pitching, so combine that with facing Sale and this is what one would expect. Sale completely mowed down this lineup, allowing just one run on six hits with six strikeouts. His one mistake was to Chase Headley,  who crushed a fastball into the left field seats. It was just his second home run and extra-base hit of the year, and they came on back-to-back days. He is also now 6-for-12 against Sale. Baseball is weird. Sale retired 24 of 28 batters after the Headley home run — including 15 straight at one point — to notch the complete game. He’s good, guys.

2. The offense was clicking, and it was against a pitcher who is at risk of being sent back to Triple-A. The Sox started the scoring in the second after Brett Lawrie led off with a double and Alex Avila knocked him home with a double of how own with one out. Jose Abreu came up with the bases loaded after an Austin Jackson walk and Adam Eaton single, and hit a single that brought in two more.

3. The fatal blows were delivered in the following inning, and it was all with two outs: Avila singled and Jackson walked, then Eaton hit an RBI double after Aaron Hicks ran a terrible route in center field to allow the ball to go over his head. Then Jimmy Rollins hit a two-run moonshot, and Severino was out of the game. The bigger concern for the Yankees, however, is that the 22-year-old gripped his right arm, and now he’s going for an MRI. Yikes. Nonetheless, the White Sox took care of business against a struggling starter. Offenses that want to be above-average need to do that.

4. The offense didn’t hit a lick after the Rollins home run, as Nick Goody, Chasen Shreve, and Kirby Yates tossed six scoreless innings in relief, allowing just two hits and three walks. If there was a time for the Sox offense to go into cruise control, that would be the ideal time.

5. This was an easy victory, one that is welcome after the Sox dropped two of the three to Rangers. We knew going into this series that it would be Sale and Jose Quintana facing a struggling Yankees offense, so taking advantage of that is absolutely necessary if they want to solidify themselves as a top-tier ball club. They did just that. Quintana will go Saturday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. CT; he will take on Ivan Nova, who has a 4.34 ERA on the season.

Team record: 24-12

Lead Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

1. We all know that Quintana cannot sustain a 1.40 ERA and 2.10 FIP for the whole season. Or, at least, we don’t think he can. Regression is probably coming, but not against these Twins, who entered Sunday with a collective 91 OPS+. Combine a cold offensive club with one of the hottest pitchers in baseball, and this is the result. Quintana allowed just one run over seven innings, so his ERA will stand at 1.40. He did run into trouble a few times, though. He allowed a double to Eduardo Nunez to start the game, walked Jorge Polanco, but got Miguel Sano to line into a double play. He allowed back-to-back hits to Eddie Rosario and Nunez in the third inning, but only one run scored on a Polanco ground out. He also allowed a couple of hits in the fourth, but nothing came of that as well. All in all, Quintana allowed just one run on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts. It looked like he cramped his hand in his final inning, but he was able to finish off the frame after the trainer took a look. It’s something to monitor, but he’s likely fine. It was business as usual.

2. Twins starter Tyler Duffey shut down the White Sox bats until the fourth, when Adam Eaton led off the inning with a walk, and Jimmy Rollins followed that with a base hit. Eaton got to third (of course) on the single, and then scored on a Todd Frazier ground out. They took the lead just one inning later, as Avisail Garcia doubled, and then Austin Jackson drove him in with a double of his own.

3. The White Sox’s seventh inning scoring onslaught continued, as they tacked on an insurance run in an odd way. Duffey struck out Garcia, but he got to first on a wild pitch. Then, Dioner Navarro knocked him home with a double. Navarro has really struggled so far this year, but that type of gap power was encouraging. Duffey finished the afternoon with only three earned runs over seven innings. He looked very sharp (nine strikeouts!); it’s not his fault that his team can’t hit.

4. The bullpen wasn’t perfect and maybe induced a bead of sweat or two, but they dealt with the heart of the Twin’s lineup in the eighth and ninth innings. Nate Jones allowed a walk and single to Polanco and Trevor Plouffe, but worked out of the two-out jam, and David Robertson earned his tenth save of the year, allowing just one walk in the ninth.

5. The White Sox are now 6-0 against the Twins this year. They won’t face them again until June 28, but one would imagine this team wants to face them every day. Cumulatively through those six games, the Sox have scored 30 runs and just allowed nine. This wasn’t dumb luck.

Team Record: 22-10

Next game is Monday vs. Rangers at 7:10 p.m. CT on WPWR

Lead Photo Credit: Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports