31 August 2023
The Chicago White Sox were down four runs after the first inning Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Eloy Jiménez began the second with a single and Andrew Vaughn followed with a home run. Oscar Colás also hit a two-run homer in the inning to help the Sox pull even.
Luis Robert led off the third with his 35th homer of the season, jump-starting a three-run inning, and the Sox were on their way to a 10-5 victory in front of 17,723.
“I liked the intent of playing baseball correctly on the offensive side,” manager Pedro Grifol said, noting sequences such as Lenyn Sosa executing a sacrifice bunt in the sixth ahead of a two-run triple by Tim Anderson.
“Getting guys in, moving guys over, the intent was there today. I was proud of them on that end and that’s a part of building something that can win. The intent has to be there to sacrifice yourself for the guy behind you and the whole club.”
The Sox salvaged the finale of the three-game series. They return home for a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers beginning Friday, while reports continue to list assistant general manager Chris Getz as a name to watch for a new front-office role.
Here are three takeaways from the trip to Camden Yards.
1. Dylan Cease bounced back after early trouble.
After getting in the early four-run hole Wednesday, Cease kept three things in mind.
“Don’t get frustrated, follow the process and stay focused,” he said.
Cease allowed only one more run the rest of his outing and saw the offense take off for the comeback win.
“The first was just a combination of them putting some good at-bats together, me making some not-so-great pitches and one of those innings that’s not ideal, but just let it go and keep battling,” Cease said.
Cease allowed five runs on six hits with seven strikeouts and three walks. His ability to give the team six innings after the rough first stood out.
“The great ones can have an inning like that and give you six or seven,” Grifol said. “That’s what he showed today. You wait five days (to pitch), you give up four runs in the first and you can get down on yourself and cash it in or bear down and give us six or seven. He bore down and had a really good outing after that.”
2. The Sox continue to see — and address — lapses in play.
The Orioles’ Adam Frazier singled to right in the eighth inning of Monday’s game. Ramón Urías went from first to third on the hit. And when Colás’ throw to third missed the mark, Frazier easily scampered to second.
“We saw Colás (with a) lack of focus throw a ball over the cutoff man,” Grifol said before Tuesday’s game. “The play was over. Throw the ball to second base and keep the double play in order.”
Sosa made a pair of mistakes in Tuesday’s 9-3 loss. He bunted with one out and runners on first and second in the seventh inning of a tie game when the Sox wanted him to swing away.
“I saw the third baseman playing back and I thought I had a good chance to bunt and move the runners, and in the worst-case scenario if I was out, I would be able to move the runner,” Sosa said through an interpreter before Wednesday’s game.
“But now I know that wasn’t the best decision. You learn from it and from now on in those situations, knowing I can hit the ball hard, I’m going to try to take advantage of that and swing at the ball.”
In the ninth, he was doubled up off first for the final out, believing that Korey Lee’s fly to center would fall for a hit.
“This is the big leagues,” Grifol said after Tuesday’s game. “These are not fundamentals that happen in the big leagues only. These are fundamentals that happen all the way up the system. So this is not new to them.
“These are things that we already did talk to him about. We’ll remind him again and we’ve got to let them know this is not the type of baseball that’s going to take us where we want to go.”
Sosa said talking through the situations with coaches has been helpful.
“I learned from that and it’s something that I really take with me,” he said.
3. The waiver wires will be worth watching.
Teams have until 1 p.m. Thursday to claim players off waivers.
Grifol was asked before Wednesday’s game whether he thought the Sox would lose starter Mike Clevinger, who is reportedly on waivers.
“I don’t know,” Grifol said. “I don’t know what anybody else is thinking out there. He’s been really good for us, that’s all I know. I’d like to keep him, but I don’t know what other people are thinking.”
Clevinger is 6-6 with a 3.32 ERA in 18 starts this season.
Former Sox pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López reportedly were put on waivers by the Los Angeles Angels. The Sox traded the two to the Angels on July 26.
Giolito told reporters he heard about the waiver status on social media.
“I’d say surprised,” Giolito said in an Associated Press story. “But at the end of the day, it’s a business. It can be a very strange business sometimes. You just roll with it.”
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