White Sox do little to scrub away Saturday's memory, get swept
/White Sox fans still mourning Saturday night's disaster and soul-quaking collapse had the following distractions from a 4-2, sweep-completing loss to the Angels to ease their minds:
- Jose Quintana having nothing but his fastball all day
- Josh Hamilton hitting fastballs
- No one on the White Sox hitting anything
- Long camera shots of grass
- An eighth-inning mini-rally!
- Sadness
The Sox were no-hit by renowned Mazda salesman C.J. Wilson until Gordon Beckham broke through in the fourth with a single, whereupon he was immediately erased by a Jose Abreu double play. The Sox didn't break through again until Beckham singled again the seventh, at which point he was erased by a Jose Abreu double play. Dayan Viciedo then singled, and was merely stranded. This was the best part of the day for a while, and all they put together against Wilson.
Jose Quintana spent the day proving that if he were forced to rely on only his fastball, he'd be a pretty good reliever. Possibly going the whole day without throwing a competent slider, Quintana still managed to get into the fifth inning before the levees broke on him. There might not be a player in baseball worse to face while only being able to spot a fastball than Hamilton, and he happens to play for the Angels.
Hamilton drew first blood on Quintana with a two-out RBI double in the second, then took center stage for his dismantling in the fifth after his fourth walk of the game loaded the bases. After diffusing the first inning with gas to retire Hamilton and C.J. Cron with the bases loaded, Quintana had nothing to cross them up with on their third time around, and the duo cleared the bases with back-to-back ropes to right field. Going into the afternoon, Quintana was tied with Sale with one start apiece with more than three earned runs allowed. Now he's got two.
A debate counterpoint almost opened up in Sunday's eighth inning. Mike Scioscia pulled Wilson after a one-out walk in the eighth, like you do, and the Sox rallied by throwing pinch-hitters at right-handed side-armer Joe Smith. Alejandro De Aza stepped in and continued offering signs of life with a double to push himself and pinch-runner Adrian Nieto into scoring position, and Conor Gillaspie pinch-slapped an infield single to third to plate Nieto. Adam Eaton's single up the middle brought the Sox within two runs of mirroring Saturday night, but Smith retired the first right-hander he saw and ended the interesting portion of the ballgame.
Javy Guerra and Daniel Webb added 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. Dayan Viciedo arrested his steady slide with a two-hit game that included a ninth-inning double to bring the tying run to the plate. It resulted in Adrian Nieto batting with the game on the line, which went as it went.
Team Record: 31-33
Next Game: Monday at 7:10 p.m. CT vs. Detroit on CSN
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