The White Sox scored four runs in the first inning, thanks to a combination of the inability of Phils starter Andrew Painter to figure out where the ball was going and a wee tad of good fortune. Well, more than a wee tad.
Painter led off the game by hitting Sam Antonacci — Antonacci’s MLB-leading 14th time to get on base the hard way — then walked Miguel Vargas. First bit of luck was Andrew Benintendi’s 73 mph bloop RBI single, followed by a walk to Colson Montgomery to load the bases. Chase Meidroth then squibbed a 50 mph dribbler too slow to get the runner going home, and Jacob Gonzalez followed with a somewhat mightier 62 mph bouncer that was also too slow to make a play at the plate. Just so it wouldn’t all be ridiculous good fortune, Tristan Peters got the first legitimate RBI of the inning with a double slashed down the right field line to make it 4-0.
The White Sox went the opposite end of the hitting spectrum in the third, when Montgomery led off with his 16th homer of the season. It was just 97.2 mph, so not an absolute blast, but two batters later Gonzalez made his first career round-tripper a memorable one — well, even more memorable than any first career shot would be:
Gonzalez’ 107.5 mph, 428 footer made the score 6-zip in the third, and the Sox offense decided to call it a day.
The big lead was handy, because sorta-starter Sean Burke, who followed an excellent 1 1/3 innings by opener Brandon Eisert, ran into long ball problems of his own. First Alex Bohm led off fourth with a homer to make it 6-1, then Brandon Marsh made it 6-2 with his own shot to the seats in the sixth. Burke then issued a couple of walks and an RBI single to Adolis García, and it was 6-3 and time for Burke to hit the showers.
Never fear, Sean Newcomb got out of the jam and then pitched two more scoreless innings, and Grant Taylor struck out the side in the ninth. If the key to beating the Phillies is keeping Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in check, Sox pitching was perfect — the two combined to go 0-for-8 with five strikeouts (Schwarber did manage a walk). In fact, Schwarbers’ only non-K was a foul pop that Drew Romo made a nifty play on:
The rubber match will be at 12:35 p.m. Central tomorrow, with David Sandlin making his third start for the Sox and veteran Aaron Nola making another try at getting back to the performances of his glory days for the Phillies.