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

Miguel Gonzalez has done his time at Triple-A Charlotte and will now try to permanently take the place of John Danks where Erik Johnson failed to. Gonzalez wasn’t necessarily impressive in his first attempt at a start with the White Sox, but he did he flash some tools that might enable him to produce a quality start or two without the benefit of pure luck. After getting touched early by a very strong Toronto offense, Gonzalez was able to regroup and get himself into the sixth inning, an accomplishment that helped push the Sox toward victory. This is what is being asked of him, preferably without the pronounced blips in the early innings; pitch yourself a reasonably OK that-wasn’t-so-bad five innings and the team is in decent shape.

For their part in this contest, the Rangers are sending out Colby Lewis. Lewis has started six games so far this year and only has two decisions to show for it. The scales of fortune are not out to get him though. He’s outperforming his FIP (3.32 ERA vs 5.34 FIP) by enough that despite an ERA+ being well above average, cFIP thinks he’s a good bet to be purely average from here on out. He did face the Sox in Chicago last month, allowing just one run over six innings despite walking four along with his six hits, the lone run coming via a Melky Cabrera home run. Lewis is many years old, and his best years appear to be behind him, but the White Sox have not been able to score more than two runs against him in any start since 2010. In the time since he’s thrown two shutouts, and last month’s Sox victory was the first time they’ve won a game that Colby Lewis started since 2010 as well.

Alex Avila is back in the lineup, fresh off of a rehab assignment. Offensive contributions from Avila to this point have been light, but he does provide the service of squatting for a few hours so that Navarro doesn’t have to, and does so without completely sabotaging the chances for victory.

White Sox Lineup:

1. Adam Eaton – RF
2. Jimmy Rollins – SS
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4. Todd Frazier – 3B
5. Melky Cabrera – LF
6. Brett Lawrie – 2B
7. Avisail Garcia – DH
8. Alex Avila – C
9. Austin Jackson – CF

Rangers Lineup:

1. Rougned Odor – 2B
2. Nomar Mazara – RF
3. Adrian Beltre – 3B
4. Prince Fielder – DH
5. Ian Desmond – LF
6. Mitch Moreland – 1B
7. Elvis Andrus – SS
8. Bobby Wilson – C
9. Delino DeShields – CF

Today’s game will be broadcast on WPWR and FSSW at 7:05 p.m.
Lead Photo Credit: Nick Turchiaro – USA Today Sports Images

1. With a swiftly draining pen in the 11th inning, Rangers manager Jeff Banister didn’t reach for closer Shawn Tolleson, but instead stuck with Nick Martinez — a hot starter at this point last year — and in return got two walks, a hit batsman, and the game-winning hit the Sox couldn’t find for themselves most of the day.

Jose Abreu poked a grounder through a drawn-in infield to redeem a 1-for-6 day, and the Sox took their second straight game against the Rangers, 4-3.

2. The White Sox offense spent much of the game stuck in a loop, living off a Melky Cabrera solo shot as their only run, blowing scoring opportunities and threatening to waste a brilliant return to form by Carlos Rodon. With all day and plenty of opportunity to snap out of it, they finally got around to it in the eighth inning, just before the sun settled behind the upper deck seats Saturday afternoon.

A solo blast to the left field bullpen, Todd Frazier‘s fifth home run of the year, tied the game at two in the bottom of the eighth and injury replacement Dioner Navarro put the Sox ahead with an RBI single to center, but curious decisions and worse execution kept the Sox from extending their lead. A squeeze bunt from Austin Jackson was way too hard, and led to Avisail Garcia getting gunned down at the plate, and Navarro was thrown out by a mile trying to score from second on an Adam Eaton single to end the inning. The lack of an extra run was trivial for all of five minutes, when Ian Desmond walked, stole a base, scooted to third when a low throw got through the infield, and scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth to give David Robertson his first blown save of the year.

3. The White Sox almost ended things in the bottom half, but Jimmy Rollins stealing second and advancing to third was wiped out by a bizarre unintentional interference call on Jose Abreu‘s backswing, and Frazier was robbed of what was at the very least a double when rookie Nomar Mazara made a fantastic leaping catch at the wall in right field.

4. Before the late outburst, the Sox hitters were stuck in a loop. They liked the fourth inning so much they played it twice, and in doing so revealed the holes currently present in their struggling lineup. In both the fourth and the sixth, Frazier led off — after Abreu had ended the previous inning during his 1-for-6 day — by popping out, and was followed by Cabrera and Brett Lawrie reaching base consecutively and starting a mini-rally. In both innings that was followed Garcia making an out (soft liner to center in the fourth, ugly strikeout in the sixth), Alex Avila reaching base by crafty, wisened means (dribbler away from the shift in the fourth, working a walk in the sixth), and the snakebitten Jackson getting a crack at being the hero with the bases loaded and two outs, only to see him fail to get the ball out of the infield.

5. The Sox have lived and died on elite-elite-elite starting pitching so far in 2016, needed to see a return to form from their youngest and rawest left-hander Saturday after the worst outing of his career on Monday. They got plenty.

Rodon breezed through the Texas batting order save for a strange struggle to retire Desmond or keep him in the ballpark. Rodon collected seven strikeouts and just one walk over six and two-thirds innings of two-run ball, and showed few signs of the control problems that plagued him Monday. After two hitters he had doubled his innings and strikeout count from his last outing, and didn’t walk anyone until Desmond earned a free pass and later scored the go-ahead run in the seventh.

6. Cabrera continues to be nuclear hot, belting his second home run of the season and collecting three more hits, and reaching base four more times, which is equal to the number of strikeouts he has this season. It sounds like he’s staying in the middle of the order for the foreseeable future, where his hot April will try to cover up that the Sox 3-4 hitters are both batting below .200.

7. Avila left the game after the sixth inning with tightness in his right hamstring, prompting Dioner Navarro to come in. The next man up from Charlotte should an injury persist is Kevan Smith, who is producing early but short on prospect shine.

8. Lawrie made a diving stop at second followed by a behind-the-back flip to Rollins in the third inning that will likely make a highlight reel or five, and had a pretty good snag of a hot grounder from Mitch Moreland in the 11th.

9. Desmond, owner of a .231 OBP coming into the day, reached base on the Sox four times and scored three runs.

10. The Matt Albers scoreless streak extended to 29 games after he wriggled out of the 11th inning, thanks in no small part to Elvis Andrus lining it back to the mound for a double play

Team Record: 12-6

Next Game is Sunday at 1:10 p.m. CT vs. Texas on CSN

Lead Photo Image Credit: Rick Scuteri // USA Today Sports Images

The conflagration snapped a 10-game quality start streak for 23 year-old left-hander, who has managed to mostly be very productive despite having so much work left to do to refine his awesome raw stuff. Will his troubles continues to crater or will he feature newly smoothed out mechanics and continue his ascent to the upper echelon of AL starting pitchers?

Facing him will be a Texas lineup that features four lefties for some reason.

Rodon features a devastating slider, so while Prince Fielder and Rougned Odor are obviously everyday guys, and rookie Nomar Mazara is just an awesome talent, but Mitch Moreland is a career .233/.291/.359 hitter against lefties.

Don’t expect Melky Cabrera‘s hot start to alter the top of the lineup much. Robin Ventura said before Saturday’s game that he likes having Cabrera’s switch-hitting bat in the middle of the lineup. As such, Jimmy Rollins will return to the No. 2 hole after a day off. He’s hitting .217/.275/.370 so far on the year, but looked happy about some new shoes he got before the game, so maybe a hot streak is afoot.

The ageless Colby Lewis (he’s 36, actually) takes the mound for Texas. Despite a myriad of arm injuries, career detours to Japan, and mostly mediocre results (career cFIP of 100 on the nose), he can never be counted out, and managed to spin a career-high 204.2 innings last year.

White Sox Lineup:

1. Adam Eaton – RF
2. Jimmy Rollins – SS
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4. Todd Frazier – 3B
5. Melky Cabrera – LF
6. Brett Lawrie – 2B
7. Avisail Garcia – DH
8. Alex Avila – C
9. Austin Jackson – CF

SP – Carlos Rodon

Rangers Lineup:

1. Delino DeShields – CF
2. Nomar Mazara – RF
3. Adrian Beltre – 3B
4. Prince Fielder – DH
5. Ian Desmond – LF
6. Mitch Moreland – 1B
7. Elvis Andrus – SS
8. Rougned Odor – 2B
9. Bryan Holaday – C

SP – Colby Lewis

Saturday’s game is on CSN at 1:10pm CT.

Lead Image Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn // USA Today Sports Images