1. As Jose Quintana finished a scoreless top half of the sixth inning, Jason Benneti went to break describing today’s game as “a bona fide pitchers’ duel”. At the time, it was.  The game was 1-1 going to the bottom of the sixth. Very quickly, however, it turned into a blowout – Trevor Bauer would be chased after allowing five base runners while only recording a single out in the frame and his replacement, Dan Otero, allowed three more while only recording one more out. When the dust had settled, the Sox had sent 12 men to the plate and converted 7 into runs, their most fruitful inning so far this season.
2. After a couple of uncharacteristically shaky starts, Jose Quintana returned to form today, going 8 innings and striking out six and allowing just a single run on a Brandon Guyer solo shot. With the win, Quintana increased his career high win total to 12, and is now within 8 IP of a fourth straight 200 IP season.
3. Quintana’s start was the eighth consecutive start by a White Sox pitcher of at least 6 IP, a welcome stretch after the team started the month of September with a 3 game series in Minnesota where their starters combined for 13 IP. This, combined with consecutive blowout wins and Chris Sale’s consistent 8 inning performances has granted much needed rest to the bullpen and particularly Nate Jones and David Robertson, who have been called upon excessively as the only two reliable pitchers in the pen.
4. The White Sox and their fans set a Guinness World Record for most dogs attending a sporting event tonight at US Cellular Field. The jokes about them having to resort to canines because they’d never set a human attendance record will trickle in at a Guaranteed Rate
5. With a win today or tomorrow, the White Sox would win a series against Cleveland for the first time all season. Couple that with no series wins against Kansas City and one series win against Detroit in 2016 and it’s easy to see how the Sox got to this point of noncontention.

But surmount they did! The Sox offense proved resilient despite the early hole. They scored six unanswered between the third and fifth innings to bring the game back into contention. In the ninth, down 9-7, the Southsiders pieced together a three hit, two walk rally to even the score at nine and treat the remaining fans to free baseball. Adam Eaton would play hero in the 12th, knocking a grounder through a drawn in infield to score JB Shuck and cap the improbable comeback

Jose Abreu led the charge. In the third he hammered an 84 mph slider over the left-center fence and is now OPS-ing over 1.000 for the month of June. Abreu, Eaton, Cabrera, and Lawrie all reached base at least three times, and, on top of three walks, Dioneer Navarro launched a towering fly that reached low orbit before landing 4 rows deep behind the left field fence.

Unfortunately the Sox defense rediscovered their 2015 form. Fans were treated to a horrifying reminder that Avi Garcia occasionally brings his glove to the ballpark. Playing RF, he managed to bumble a Miguel Cabrera liner into a run scoring “double,” called off Brett Lawrie on a foul pop that landed directly between them, and meekly tracked a lazy foul ball to the right field seats only to watch it drop in front of him. Sox fans have admittedly been spoiled watching Eaton patrol right field, but a few games of Avi makes it feel like a wash. Garcia was hardly alone though. Melky Cabrera had two questionable plays on flyballs, allowing one to drop at his feet and another to bounce past him which would become the Tigers ninth run. And, not to be left out of the fun, James Shields decided to airmail a tailor made double-play ball into centerfield. Shades of 2015. Shades of sadness.

There were no positives to take away from Shields’ start aside from somehow lasting longer than Tigers’ starter, Matt Boyd. Relying on diminished velocity, Shields tried to nibble around the edges while working with the worst pitch framer in baseball. The result was four walks over five innings. When he attacked the zone, hitters had no trouble squaring up on Shields’ stuff as evidenced by nine hits versus one strikeout. Today’s Sox Math: if James Shields gave up six earned runs over five innings today and seven earned runs over two innings last Wednesday, what is his current ERA? Too damn high*

A week ago, the James Shields trade seemed a steal. With the cost of starting pitching on the open market, a dependable workhorse is a valuable asset. However, watching Avi Garcia patrol right field is a grave reminder how much better that money could have been spent over the off season. Cough- Yoenis Cespedes cough Dexter Fowler cough cough.

Robin Ventura may be more admiral than general as a balls and strikes dispute with home plate umpire, Mark Carlson, saw him cursing like a sailor. Fortunately the mics caught it all. The skipper was sent down the tunnel early and missed the Sox’ improbable comeback. Tough day Robin.

*Actually it’s 16.71, which is the mathematical representation of too damn high.

Team Record: 32-32

Lead Photo Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports