With most of the expected big hitters out of the lineup after yesterday’s split-squad games, some other sources made Tanner Bibee’s first inning of the spring a miserable one. For him.
No. 2 hitter Sam Antonacci started the game for the White Sox when he got a 2-0 cutter that had too much on the plate.
Antonacci knew this was gone from the start, all 171.1 km/h, 416′ worth. That shot was followed by a double by Miguel Vargas and LaMonte Wade Jr., with Wade later scoring on a wild pitch for a 3-0 Sox lead.
Bibee then settled for two scoreless innings, but Shane Smith showed that his weak first start had just worked out the kinks as he held the Guardians off the board to one run in the third, though a nice play by William Bergolla Jr. in the short term prevented the damage from getting worse.
A bad Cleveland defense (see, other teams have that too) helped the Sox get two more runs in the fifth, with Bergolla and Antonacci scoring after walking and being hit by a pitch, the first of two HBPs for Antonacci in the game. Bergolla also had an RBI single in the sixth to make it 6-1, and Antonacci scored in the seventh for a 7-1 lead. Both players are making management decisions about which middle infielders to keep when camp breaks increasingly difficult.
Three Sox relievers forced their way into the seventh, when Tyler Davis decided the game was too much of a yawn and coughed up three runs on two hits and a walk in the bottom of the seventh. Cleveland added one more in the eighth and had the tying run at home, but Adysin Coffey got a three-pitch K to end the threat. Shane Murphy then had an easy ninth for the save.
The Sox had just seven hits for their seven runs while running their spring record to 6-4, but six walks and those two HBPs, along with poor Guardian fielding decisions, helped matters.
Next up is a rematch with the Cubs, first pitch tomorrow at 2:05 PM Central. It will be on ESPN 1000, but you won’t be able to watch the game unless you’re one of those defectors who gets Cubs TV.
#White #Sox #hold #top #Guardians