*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
The big ticket catcher in Chicago may be heating up. Danny Mendick hit a home run, Yasmani Grandal drove in 3 runs, and the Chicago White Sox defeated the Texas Rangers with a 8-3 victory on Friday night in Chicago.
Coming off a series loss at home to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the White Sox did what they had to do against the Rangers, headlined by a 5 run 8th inning. The White Sox are now just two games under .500, despite having won only 4 of their last 10 games.
Grandal said of the strong hitting game that "We're starting to take better and better at-bats as the game goes on, especially when we get men on. Guys understand that as part of the process, and it's much better for it to happen early in the year than happen later in the year to reveal the switch. I'm glad that it happened and we've learned from it."
The White Sox got on the board in the second inning, with Grandal making it 1-0 on an RBI single. In the 5th inning, Nathaniel Lowe hit a solo home run, getting the Rangers on the board and tying the game 1-1. In the top of the 6th, Adolis Garcia put the Rangers ahead 2-1 on a solo home run of his own. In the bottom half, the White Sox tied it when Luis Robert scored on a wild pitch.
In the 7th inning, AJ Pollock made it a 3-2 White Sox lead with an RBI double. The top of the 8th inning saw Corey Seager tie it 3-3 with another solo homer by the Rangers. In the bottom half, Grandal put the White Sox ahead 5-3 with a two run double to right field. Josh Harrison followed that up with an RBI single, before Mendick hit a two run home run, making it a 8-3 game.
Grandal walked through his key double, saying that "I've never seen him in my life. I was pretty much looking for a mistake or looking or something up. He made the mistake and I was able to capitalize on it."
Making the start for the White Sox was Reynaldo Lopez, who handled the first two innings in an opener-esque role. After that came Davis Martin, who allowed two runs on 3 hits over 5 innings of work. Kendall Graveman got the win thanks to pitching the 8th inning, and Liam Hendriks closed out the game in the 9th inning.
After losing scheduled starter Glenn Otto to the Covid-19 list just hours before game time, the Rangers went with a bullpen game. Matt Bush got the start and went one inning. Garrett Richards then went two innings, Tyson Miller added 2 1/3 innings, and Dennis Santana went 1 2/3 innings. John King got the loss in 2/3 of an inning, requiring Jesus Tinoco to finish the game.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward said that "We were obviously put in a tough spot losing our starter, but our pitchers did a good job and kept us in the game. A couple of mistakes, didn't make some plays and being a little sloppy there at the end led to a five-run eighth inning."
Up next, the White Sox and Rangers continue their series on Saturday afternoon. The White Sox send Lucas Giolito to the mound, while Martin Perez starts for the Rangers.
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