Chicago’s (14-11) bats exploded for five runs in the third behind starting pitcher Anthony Kay. The Athletics (12-14) mounted a comeback but ultimately fell short, as the Good Guys carried home the 6-4 victory. The bullpen was a little rocky at times, but lefthander Chris Murphy was able to shut the door on the A’s and snag the save and secure the win for Kay, now 3-0 on the spring.
Kay was excellent through the first four innings and allowed just three hits: a single in the first from Nick Kurtz that turned into a double play on the next batter, a base hit in the second, and a two-out double in the fourth that turned into nothing. He started the fifth out alright with a ground out, but Andy Ibañez took him deep on a hanging slider inside, which was Kay’s only run surrendered. He struck out one more before being replaced with Jedixson Paez, and outside of the homer, he was efficient and punched out five batters while not walking any.
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A five-run cushion while on the mound definitely takes the pressure off, and the South Side offense did just that in the bottom of the third. Chase Meidroth led off the rally with a solo shot to right — his first of the spring — and both Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas walked to put a couple more runners on for the Good Guys. Munetaka Murakami came up to the plate in an ideal situation, but he wasn’t the hero here … yet. Mune got Colson to third by tagging on a fly out, but Austin Hays came in clutch, driving an RBI double to right, giving the Sox a two-run lead.
Hays’ double was enough for the Athletics to head to the bullpen, but Andrew Benintendi poured some salt in the wound by mashing a 416-foot, three-run shot to right to make it 5-0.
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Just a couple of innings later, the South Siders tacked on one more thanks to a Murakami moonshot — his first home run in a White Sox jersey and the first of (hopefully) many more to come.
Outside of the homers, shortstop Luisangel Acuña and catcher Drew Romo both blasted doubles in the game to account for the remaining South Side extra-base hits. As a team, the Sox went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left five on base, but they did enough to hold on to the win.
The Athletics were attempting to claw back, adding two runs in the fifth and then two more in the eighth. Paez took over for 2 1/3 innings after Kay, giving up one run on one hit and a walk, though he fanned three and has been much more efficient after a rough outing early in the month.
It was a lefty-heavy day as Sean Newcomb entered the game in the eighth, and things got dicey for a minute, but he was eventually able to work his way out of it to maintain a two-run lead. Newcomb was able to get two outs fairly quickly after walking the leadoff batter, but naturally, before he was able to get the third out, a pinch-hit home run from Shane McGuire cut the South Side lead down to two, 6-4.
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In better news, the bullpen struggles ended there, as Murphy shut it down in the ninth and the Sox obtained their 14th win of the season. The Good Guys have the day off tomorrow but will have a split-squad matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres on Thursday.
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