The Rangers came in to Browns Chapel riding high after a big win over the Diamondbacks. The White Sox starter, David Wynne, quickly retired the Rangers in the top of the first to set the tone for the evening. As a light drizzle started, the White Sox were surprisingly shut down by the Rangers starter. So after one it was an intriguing 0-0 shutout. David Wynne had a tough second as the Rangers were able to live on a bunch of walks to go up 4-0. Again David was virtually unhittable as they only reached base on a lame popup and several walks.
The White Sox quickly retaliated with 4 runs of their own in the bottom of the second. Mark had a key single to drive in the fourth run. So after two it was tied again.
Wesley came on in relief and kept the Rangers top of the order quiet as they were only able to score a single run in the third. The White Sox seized the opportunity to take the lead with a walk to Garrett, a smash to second by David Wynne, and a long triple to center by Bretton which scored two runs. Bretton scored on a solid single by Wesley and the Whie Sox had a 7-5 lead after three.
Wesley had a tough 4th as he walked the bases loaded and a couple of singles scored three runs. However, he got out of the jam with an unassisted defensive gem by Ricky who caught a ball at second and jogged over to first to tag up the runner on first. It was a big break for the White Sox as they got out of the inning only down 8-7. In the bottom of the 4th the White Sox continued their offensive barrage with four more runs and took an 11-8 lead. That turned out to be final score as Bretton came on in the final two innings and completely shut down the Rangers to give the White Sox the win. We note that Garrett caught the final ball when a shot was hit to right for the final out.
Coach Grossman was only available for a moment as he was grumbling about the players behavior on the bench “I really like how we played today, but I have trouble understanding why our guys decided to play with caterpillars on the bench. I think we are going to have to spend some real dollars to hire an extremely large bench coach. But don’t let my griping about the bench spoil the great bats and some real defensive gems in the field. Ricky’s double play and Garrett’s catch were big — Bretton, Nolan, Wesley and Tom all made great contact today and I can see the team improving.” This reporter was able to get in touch with the Coach Goldstein as well, “I am very pleased with how the team is progressing now that we are at the midpoint of the season — we still have a long way to go — as the first base coach I can see that we need to work on having our guys run through the base instead of just stopping on first. Its no problem — we’ll work on it this Friday and I’m sure it will improve.”
The White Sox practice from 5:30 – 7:15 this Friday at Hook Road and have a big game against the Cardinals on Saturday.
