White Sox Heading To Kansas City On Winning Note
Jose Abreu continued his hot streak and Carlos Sanchez drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. The White Sox took three of four from Cleveland and head to Kansas City for a four-game series.
The Chicago White Sox bounced back with an exciting walk-off victory over Cleveland. Jose Abreu launched his 24th home run of the season while Carlos Sanchez singles home Leury Garcia in the 9th for a 2-1 win.
James Shields was solid allowing one run on three hits through six innings. The right hander also had eight strike outs in one of his best performances this season.
The White Sox bullpen held the Indians without a hit in the final three innings. David Robertson pitching a scoreless 9th to get the win. He is now 5-3 with a 3.62 ERA. Chris Beck, Dan Jennings and Nate Jones also combined to throw two innings, not allowing a hit.
This team finally got some offense in the first two games of the series. After only scoring one run in their last game, the White Sox were able to use clutch hitting to close out the series. They hope this will carry over as they head to Kansas City for four games against the Royals.
Abreu had another strong series recording six hits in 15 plate appearances. The slugger also had a home run and five RBI to go with three runs scored. He’s looking to become the only player besides Albert Pujols to hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs in their first three seasons. To accomplish this, Abreu needs six home runs and five RBIs over the last their final 16 games.
That may be a tall order as he was kept relatively in check by Royals pitching in their last series. He was held to three hits in 12 plates appearances and drove in only two runs.
Chris Sale (15-8, 3.03 ERA) will once again go for win number 16, as he squares off against right hander Ian Kennedy in the series opener. Sale’s last win came on Aug. 20 versus the Oakland Athletics. He lost his last outing 2-0 to to this same Kansas City team. He hasn’t pitched bad, but in his last two starts, he has surrendered four home runs. To put that into perspective, the lefty allowed just two home runs in the month of August, six starts.
The White Sox have just 16 games left in the 2016 season. It would be awfully nice for fans to see them end on a high note. At 71-75 this season has been a disappointment. But it would mean a lot to fans if this team can find a way to finish the season 10-6 or even 11-5.
That will definitely be a tall order as they have four games with the Royals, three with the Indians and three with the Twins. The White Sox have really struggled to win against their division. A strong finish would go a long way for this club. It could build excitement for this team headed into the offseason and 2017.
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