The White Sox picked up their first win of the season on Saturday afternoon in Detroit. Here are some of the highlights from the 5-2 victory.
Dylan Cease Deals In Season Debut
Dylan Cease has had the Tiger's number throughout his career. His first major league win came against the Tigers. In nine starts he owns an 8-0 record and a 2.10 ERA against Detroit. Not even a revamped Tigers roster was enough to derail the Tiger King. Cease looked sharp. He threw scoreless five innings and only allowed one hit. His slider was filthy throughout the day. Miguel Cabera fell went down on strikes twice to the slider. Javier Baez and Jonathan Scope also fell victim to it. He struggled with control at times, resulting in three walks but he was able to work around all of them. Tony La Russa put him back out for the sixth inning but after allowing a leadoff single to Austin Meadows he was quickly pulled. That run would come around to score, putting the only blemish on an otherwise impressive outing. Cease finished the day with eight strikeouts on 79 pitches.Bummer Bounces Back
Friday was not a banner day for the White Sox bullpen. The unit squandered a 3-0 lead, blew a save then coughed up a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning. Aaron Bummer was one of the culprits responsible for the Opening Day implosion. The lefty allowed two earned runs and was unable to finish the eighth inning. Saturday was a different story. Tony La Russa called upon Bummer in the ninth inning to close out the White Sox's first win of the season. The former Nebraska Cornhusker proved he had a short memory. Things got off to an ominous start when he allowed back-to-back singles to Miguel Cabera and Jonathan Schoop. This brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Eric Haase who hit the game-tying home run off of Liam Hendriks on Friday. Bummer buckled down and struck out Haase with a sharp 82 mph slider low in the zone. He then fell behind in the 2-0 to Spencer Torkelson but battled back by throwing three consecutive strikes and buried Torkleson with another slider low in the zone. Bummer finished his high wire act by fanning Dustin Garneau with a 94 mph sinker. Bummer's bounce-back effort locked down the White Sox's first win of the 2022 campaign and earned him his first save of the season.Sousa The Hero Unsung Hero Of Bullpen?
After watching Bennett Sousa make his first two big-league appearances you would not know he is a rookie. He looked composed during his major league debut throwing a perfect 1-2-3 inning. Tony La Russa called upon him again in the seventh inning on Saturday. Sousa inherited a runner on first while the White Sox were nursing a three-run lead. He got Akil Baddoo to ground into a huge double play then retired Robbie Grossman on a fly ball to right field. In the next inning, Sousa got Austin Meadows to go down looking for his first major league strikeout. Sousa has only faced five batters and already recorded six outs in the big leagues.Clutch Hitting
The White Sox have shown a knack for two out hitting early in the season. Over their first two games, they have scored five runs with two outs. Eloy Jimenez looks to be more patient at the plate and is taking what pitchers are giving him. Jimenez had his third RBI of the season on Saturday with a base hit up the middle. Fans got to see the first bat drop of the season in the sixth inning when Yasmani Grandal launched a home run to right-center field.Andrew Vaughn provided a clutch insurance run in the seventh inning. After the Tigers cut the White Sox lead to 4-2 in the sixth, Vaughn responded by smacking a base hit to right field to bring home Josh Harrison. Vaughn was not even supposed to be in the game. He came in for the injured AJ Pollock in the third. Josh Harrison also had himself a nice day at the plate. The White Sox's new second baseman went 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.
