Abreu is Abreu, Noesi isn't terrible, Sox win
/Hector Noesi tried his best to turn Tuesday's game against the Dodgers into a big pile of terrible, but a little bit of luck couple with Jose Abreu doing his thing proved enough in a 4-1 victory.
Noesi found himself in trouble on a few occasions early on, putting a pair of runners on in three of the first four innings. But when the smoke cleared the Dodgers only found themselves with a single run and Abreu's two-run blast in the first had already put the White Sox ahead for good.
The aforementioned blast came, much like Monday's homer, in the first inning. On just the seventh pitch of the game from starter Dan Haren, Abreu lifted a two-run blast on an 82-mph splitter to bring home Gordon Beckham, who doubled with one out. That proved to be enough for Noesi, who did just enough to survive.
The lead appeared in doubt just a half-inning later when, with two outs, Los Angeles' Cuban hero, Yasiel Puig, doubled and Hanley Ramirez followed with a walk. But Noesi got Adrian Gonzalez to strike out on a changeup in the dirt to end the threat.
The second inning brought more trouble and the Dodgers' lone tally of the night. Matt Kemp led off the frame with a single and Noesi then walked Chone Figgins — one of four free passes given out on the night. One out and another walk later, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out, but the Dodgers managed to bring just one home when Andre Ethier followed a Dee Gordon sacrifice fly with a fly out of his own to end the threat.
After that, Noesi managed to scatter around hits and walks through the rest of his six innings of work. He had just one 1-2-3 inning on the evening and threw 104 pitches, but also struck out six before turning things over to the bullpen.
Abreu added to the lead again in the third with an RBI groundout, and would be able to claim he's driven in 100 percent of the White Sox's runs since his return if it weren't for a Tyler Flowers home run in the fourth for the final run of the game.
The bullpen got through three innings unscathed despite a pair of walks by the increasingly wild Jake Petricka, who was then removed before recording an out. Ronald Belisario had a 1-2-3 ninth inning, too, so that's a positive sign.
Team Record: 30-30
Next Game: Wednesday at 9:10 p.m. CT at Los Angeles on CSN
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