White Sox answer back with lopsided 8-1 win over Pirates
Blowing a 4-2 lead and losing to the lowly Pirates Tuesday night prompted all kinds of questions for the White Sox, specifically manager Rick Renteria.
Why are the starters unable to pitch deeper into games?
Why keep using relievers like Jimmy Cordero so much?
Why is rookie second baseman Nick Madrigal so reckless running the bases?
Why did catcher Yasmani Grandal have so much trouble catching the baseball in the 5-4 loss to Pittsburgh, and why doesn't backup James McCann play more?
Fortunately for the Sox - and Renteria - the offense showed up again Wednesday night and provided nothing but answers in an 8-1 win over the Pirates, who all wore uniform No. 21 to celebrate Roberto Clemente Day.
"I think we made some mistakes in the previous game and we didn't score as much as we have been," Renteria said after the Sox won for the 17th time in 22 games. "We didn't play clean baseball. It does show well, it does bode well for a club when you have a tough loss like we had last night. It was a tough loss, everybody felt it because we know how important every single game is."
McCann hit 2 homers and drove in 4 runs and Madrigal had a 2-run single as the Sox (27-16) quickly righted the ship and moved into sole possession of first place in the AL Central.
Dane Dunning was a huge factor for the White Sox, scattering 3 hits over 6 shutout innings while earning his first major-league win.
"Honestly, as long as the team wins, I'm happy," Dunning said. "I was just trying to do my job, get us to the second half of the game and from there let our bullpen and everybody else do everything.
"First one's out of the way, I got a huge congratulations from the guys and we had a little shower for me."
Dunning is emerging as a needed starting pitcher the Sox can lean on down the stretch.
"The first thing that sticks out to me, what I noticed the first time I caught him, was just his pitch-ability," McCann said. "He's got four pitches and he uses them to both sides of the plate, that and the composure. He's composed beyond his years and it makes it a lot of fun to catch a kid like that, that has no fear of throwing any pitch at any time and not allow the game to speed up on him the way that he's done so far."
Still streaking:
With his infield single in the fourth inning during the Sox's win over the Pirates Wednesday night, Jose Abreu extended his hitting streak to a career-high 22 games.
Abreu's streak is the longest in the major leagues this season and the longest for a White Sox hitter since Carlos Lee (28) in 2004.
"Just the way he goes about his business, every day he shows up, he's ready to play, he has great at-bats," Sox shortstop Tim Anderson said of Abreu. "I can write a whole book about it, but I don't think there's a need for that. You see it, you watch him every day. You see what he brings, how important he is to this ballclub and what type of player he is."