Garcia, White Sox redeem themselves in win over Twins
When it comes to overreacting in professional sports, baseball is the undisputed king.
Even though there are typically 162 games on the schedule, many fans view every one as either win or the season's over.
Given this year's slate has been cut to 60 games due to the coronavirus pandemic, fan reaction figures to be more knee jerk than ever.
You know what? That's OK. It's the nature of the game, and railing on your favorite baseball club does signal a return to normalcy in a weird kind of way.
With all that being said, Leury Garcia got beat up pretty good Friday night, spilling into Saturday morning.
More than a few White Sox fans were already angry about Nick Madrigal being dispatched to the Schaumburg taxi squad, and many, many more jumped in when Garcia started at second base in the season opener.
One of the many beauties about baseball is there's always a game the next day, and that played into Garcia's favor Saturday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.
After failing to execute several makeable plays at second base and going 0-for-3 in the Sox's season-opening 10-5 loss to the Twins, Garcia was back in the starting lineup in Game 2.
“That's just baseball, those plays just kind of happen and they just happened to be with him,” manager Rick Renteria said. “He's a pretty good player so I don't really get too worried about him. Today he comes up, has some great at-bats, I guess a redeemer.
“So if there was some concern about him, I think today was a nice rebounding day.”
The White Sox's potent offense was on full display in a 10-3 win over Minnesota, and Garcia was the most lethal weapon in the lineup with 2 home runs.
The switch-hitter went deep from both sides of the plate, only the 11th time that's happened in franchise history.
“I didn't know that,” said Garcia, who hit a career-high 8 homers last season. “It feels good. Took my pitch to hit and hit it.”
The Sox launched 5 home runs in the lopsided win over the Twins. In addition to Garcia's solo and 3-run shots, Edwin Encarnacion, James McCann and Eloy Jimenez cleared the fences.
"That's a really good lineup, one through nine,” said Randy Dobnak, who started for Minnesota after Rich Hill was pushed back. “They're all pretty large human beings as well. They're going to hit the mistakes you make, so it's all about being consistent and hitting your spots.
“That lineup's really tough and they're going to be really good for years to come."
Lucas Giolito was roughed up in Friday's start against the Twins, admittedly due to a lack of fastball command.
Dallas Keuchel took the mound for the White Sox in Game 2, and the veteran newcomer cruised through the first five scoreless innings on 61 pitches.
Winning his first start with the Sox while allowing 2 earned runs on 3 hits over 5.1 innings, Keuchel bottled up Minnesota's big bats with his changeup and cutter.
Keuchel looked a lot like erstwhile White Sox workhorse Mark Buehrle, and he sounded like him, too.
"The age-old tale of baseball is how well you can pitch,” Keuchel said. “And not a lot of guys can pitch anymore, so that's why you're adding on 30 minutes to the game instead of subtracting 30 minutes from the average timeframe. I just keep it simple.
“I draw on knowledge from some of the older guys before me, and the fact that they were able to pitch and locate will never end in baseball. It's just the oohs and aahs of spin rate and velocity is out of control right now, which makes me more comfortable in my position than I've ever been before."