A 7-1 victory, attained with four home runs, was not enough to hold off the St. Louis Cardinals. They swept a doubleheader from the Pittsburgh Pirates and moved into a virtual tie for second place in the National League Central with the Reds.
Nevertheless, the Reds won their sixth straight and pulled to .500 (26-26) for the first time since they were 5-5.
Jonathan Stiever, a rookie making his second major league start for the White Sox, craned his neck watching the Reds lose four baseballs over the fence in the first three innings.
Nick Castellanos started the party with a shot into the upper deck with one out in the first inning.
The third? A full-blown block party. The Reds hit three homers and scored five runs. Tucker Barnhart started it with a leadoff home run on a 0-and-2 count.
With two outs, Joey Votto cleared the center field wall with his 10th home run. Stiever, shaken badly, walked the next two hitters on eight straight pitches.
Jesse Winker stepped into the batter’s box lugging a 0 for 23 slump. End of slump. Winker crushed a 447-foot three-run rip high into the right-field moon deck for a 6-0 Reds lead.
“Just keep winning, that’s all we can do,” said Barnhart. “Everything else is out of our control. We go to the park expecting to win, doing everything we can however we can to win. That’s something we’ve been preaching and it has been working.”
In addition to his home run, Barnhart threw out Nomar Mazara in the top of the third when it was still 1-0.
So what did he like best, home run or throwing out Mazara?
“I’ll always talk about my defense so I will definitely go with that throwout, for sure, no question about it,” said Barnhart.
The first three homers were solo blasts, but Winker’s three-run rip was the dagger.
Of his 0 for 23 skid, Winker said, “That’s just baseball. Sometimes you hit balls right at people, sometimes you miss. That happens in baseball, it is all part of the game.”
Despite his ups and down this season, Winker said, "This isn’t about me at all. This is about the team, what we’re doing here. You want to contribute every at bat, especially me when I’m only DHing.
“It’s amazing,” he added. “We’ve been playing clean baseball. It has been so fun, man. This is the most fun I’ve ever had. It is an incredible group of guys. It’s awesome.”
Meanwhile, Tyler Mahle put a muzzle on those hefty White Sox bats, holding them to no runs, two hits and seven strikeouts through four innings.
He ran into trouble in the sixth and needed help from Tejay Antone to squirm out of it.
The White Sox loaded the bases with no outs on a double, walk and a hit batsman. One run scored on a ground ball and Mahle retired the next batter on a ground ball.
But he walked Yohan Moncado to refill he bases with two outs and Antone was summoned from the bullpen.
His assignment was to retire Luis Robert, the top candidate for American League Rookie of the Year. Antone struck him out on three pitches.
Antone pitched the next two innings and issued a walk, but nothing else. Sal Romano pitched a perfect ninth to put a huge victory in the books.
“That’s a damn good offense over there and our guys pitching really well and held them in check,” said Barnhart. “We did what a lot of people haven’t been able to do. We just came out swinging to get the lead like we did in the third inning.”
Another Chisox rookie made his major league debut in the sixth inning, left hander Garrett Crochet. Just a few months ago he was pitching for the University of Tennessee and was Chicago’s No. 1 draft pick just a couple of months ago. Crochet, throwing 100 and 101 miles an hour, pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.
After using a couple of rookies, the White Sox sent veteran Steve Cishek to pitch the seventh and the Reds added a run. Shogo Akiyama drew a walk and Joey Votto doubled him home, Votto’s third hit.
About the Author