Doug Fister took the mound in the top of the first and Leury Garcia struck out to begin the ballgame. Yoan Moncada grounded out into the shift in right and Jose Abreu whiffed to end the inning. Mike Pelfrey got the ball in the bottom of the first and Brock "The Hitman" Holt grounded out to second to begin. The red hot Eduardo Nunez continued his hot streak by blasting a home run off the centerfield wall to give the Sox a quick lead. Andrew Benintendi watched strike three go by but Chris Young absolutely crushed a home run completely out of Fenway to increase the lead. Rafael Devers hit a comebacker back to Pelfrey but now led 2-0.
Could Fister pitch with the lead in the top of the second inning? Hell no. The White Sox hammered Fister as Nicky Delmonico bunted a single with the defense shifting and Tyler Saladino doubled into the corner. Yolmer Sanchez and Tim Anderson hit back to back seeing eye singles to tie the game. Omar Narvaez grounded out to move both runners along and Sanchez scored on the sac fly by Alen Hanson. Garcia grounded out but the White Sox had stormed back to take a 3-2 lead.....yuck!
Could the Sox respond? Hell no, Mike Pelfrey naturally found his groove in the bottom of the second inning. Xander Bogaerts got a lucky hit to right and somehow swiped second. Mitch Moreland then failed to advance Xander with a routine pop up to left. Jackie Bradley Jr grounded out but Moreland moved to third. Sandy Leon made his first appearance since hurting himself on the walkoff slide he made a week ago....and struck out on a ball in the dirt to end the inning. The old Sox offense was back and this one was over.
Fister settled down in the top of the third inning although Moncada hit an inside out single to left. Abreu popped up to right and Delmonico flied out in the same spot before Saladino popped up to a running Holt to end the inning. The Sox managed to tie the game in the bottom of the third but were up to their old tricks to kill rallies. Holt grounded out meekly into the shift and Nunez grounded meekly to short. Somehow Benintendi slapped a single past the diving Moncada then Young smashed one just out of reach of the left fielder, allowing Benintendi to come all the way around to score. Only problem was Young was thrown out at third trying to stretch into a triple to end the inning. Another out on the basepaths but at least the game was tied.
Fister returned for the top of the fourth and Sanchez grounded out to begin. Anderson watched strike three go by and Narvaez grounded to short to end the inning. The BoSox squandered another chance in the bottom of the fourth. Devers grounded out but Bogaerts walked. Moreland lashed one right to first for the force but Bogaerts beat the tag at second. With another runner in scoring position....JBJ grounded out to end the inning.
Fister almost got tagged again in the top of the fifth inning. Hanson struck out but Garcia slapped a single to right. Moncada singled in the hole to right and Garcia moved to third on the fly out by Abreu. Fister recovered to freeze Delmonico to end the inning. The Sox struck back in the bottom of the fifth when Leon stroked a lead-off double to the wall. Holt grounded right to short so Leon couldn't advance. Nunez grounded to third, failing to advance Leon but for some reason Andrew Benintendi was intentionally walked. Young made the ChiSox pay for these shenanigans pay by launching a 3 run bomb just to the right of the foul pole in left to give the BoSox the lead. Devers lashed a single to left and swiped second but Bogaerts lined out to left to end the inning with the BoSox ahead 6-3.
Could Fister pitch with a 3 run lead in the top of the sixth? YES! Saladino grounded out to second, Sanchez looked at strike three and Anderson lined out to JBJ to end the inning. Pelfrey returned for the bottom of the second and Moreland popped up to right to start. JBJ got hit in the back of the leg but was thrown out trying to steal. Leon walked and that was it for Pelfrey. Chicago manager Rick Renteria pulled Mike in favor of David Holmberg. Holmberg plunked Holt with a wayward curveball on the first pitch. Renteria came out to get Holmberg after one pitch as Sox analyst Dennis Eckersley said "That was ugly." Juan Minaya came in and nearly plunked Nunez. Eck "You already drilled two guys, let's not get carried away." Nunez eventually struck out to end the inning.
Fister returned for the top of the seventh but Narvaez smashed a line drive into center cut off by JBJ to hold him to a single. Fister recovered to strike out Hanson and that was it for him. BoSox manager John Farrell came out to get him and the Fenway faithful gave him a nice ovation. After the horrid second inning, he battled to toss 6 1/3 innings of 3 run ball to keep the Sox in the game.
Addison Reed got the call to pitch to Garcia and he grounded back to Reed, moving Narvaez to second. Moncada whiffed to end the inning. Good work by "Stretch" Reed (thank you Kristen C) to keep it a 3 run game. Minaya returned for the bottom of the seventh and Benintendi drew a walk, bringing up Young. Young was rung up on a check swing and Chris let the umpire know how he felt. Young was not ejected but was called out. Benintendi swiped second as Devers worked a walk. Bogaerts promptly banged into a double play to end the inning.
Matt Barnes was summoned to pitch the top of the eighth inning and he blew away Abreu to begin the frame. Delmonico swung at strike three in the dirt and Saladino grounded to second to end the inning. The BoSox were 3 outs away from 6 wins in a row. Aaron Bummer came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning and struck out Moreland in a little bit of revenge for the walkoff. Eck "There's never enough revenge for a walkoff, believe me." Nunez lined out to left and Leon struck out to end the inning.
Sox closer Craig "The Buzzard" Kimbrel was summoned to close it out in the top of the ninth inning. Sanchez did manage to lash a base hit to left to start but Kimbrel recovered to blow away Anderson. Kimbrel blew away Narvaez and got Hanson on a bang bang play at first to end the game. The BoSox had swept the ChiSox and taken the game 6-3.
Hero of the Night is easy. Chris Young hit a solo home run, then a 3 run home run with 5 total rbi's to carry the Sox to victory.
The Good:
Andrew Benintendi was 1 for 2 with 2 walks, a stolen base and 2 runs scored.
Rafael Devers was 1 for 3 with a walk
Xander Bogaerts was 1 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base.
Sandy Leon was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored.
Doug Fister earned the win by tossing 6 1/3 gutty innings, allowing 3 runs in just one of the 7 innings he pitched in.
Addison Reed got the final 2 outs of the 7th inning.
Matt Barnes pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 27th save with a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Mitch Moreland was 0 for 4.
The Ugly:
Brock Holt was 0 for 3 but was hit with a pitch.
Eduardo Nunez was just 1 for 4 but made the hit count as it was his 4th solo home run since joining the Sox.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 but was hit with a pitch.
Final Thoughts:
The Chicago White Sox are a mess but these are the games you have to win if you have any hope of playing in October. You have to beat up on the bad teams and the BoSox did just that, sweeping the hapless ChiSox 4 straight to run their win streak to 6. It was great to see Fister pitch well again considering Doug says he worked on his mechanics before his last start. It definitely paid off, first the gem last week and now a solid effort today. Suddenly the loss of David Price doesn't seem to hurt as much although comparing a past his prime Doug Fister to Price is absurd. Still, with the way Drew Pomeranz and Chris Sale have pitched, the Sox needed someone else to step up in Price's absence and the last two starts have belonged to Fister. The offense got going just enough as well as Young and Nunez had good games with Benintendi continuing to look good after getting benched for a few days. Maybe today's day off and tomorrow's scheduled off-say will help Mookie Betts get back on track. The New York Yankees pounded the Cleveland Indians today to earn a split with them, so the 63-49 Sox remain 3 games in front with a big series with them next weekend looming. After tomorrow's off-day, the Sox head to Tampa Bay for a brief 2 game set with the Rays. Chris Sale (13-4, 2.70 ERA) looks to build on his Cy Young resume opposite Austin Pruitt on Tuesday night in Tampa at 7:10 PM.
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