By Bruce Levine–
CHICAGO (CBS) — His possible date with history ended after six innings for White Sox starter Miguel Gonzalez.
Sunday looked like the pitcher’s day to make the baseball record books. Gonzalez had retired 18 straight batters before an alleged error by Tim Anderson took away the perfect game, leaving a no-hit bid still intact. The next hitter, Alex Avila, singled to break up the no-hitter.
All of that became a moot point when official scorer Bob Rosenberg decided to change the error on Anderson to a hit after the fact. The next inning, the official scorer change made Andrew Romine’s grounder to Anderson the hit that broke up the perfect game.
Confused? No more than the rest of us.
Nonetheless, Gonzalez pitched an outstanding game allowing three earned runs (it should have been only two) in 7.2 innings. Gonzalez won his fourth game of 2017, and helped his club win the series 3-1 over Detroit.
Long ball support came in bunches for Gonzalez. Milky Cabrera, Todd Frazier, and Matt Davidson went yard for the Pale Hose on Sunday.
The veteran pitcher had lost five straight games going into the finale of the four-game series with Detroit. It all clicked for him on Sunday.
“Strike one from the get go,” Gonzalez proclaimed was the difference against the Tigers. “I got ahead right away. That is something you want to do against a team that is aggressive. It was fun to get out there again and get on track.”
The five-game losing streak was the longest of Gonzalez’s career. He was able to throw his fifth quality start of the season.
“All of my pitches seemed to be working,” he said. “Strike one curve balls I was able to throw early in the game. Split finger and cutter, all were working. It was fun.”
Chicago showed some grit over the weekend, taking 3 of 4 from the Tigers, and passing them in the American League Central standings by a half of a game.
“I am very happy with the result,” said manager Rickey Renteria. “At the same time, I am not surprised by it. The reason is I think our guys come out every day looking to play good baseball. That is just their character and the way they are put together.”
After he had retired 18 straight batters, Gonzalez noticed the other players starting to avoid him.
“It was getting quiet” Gonzalez said. “I was just trying to do my thing and make pitches. I just wanted them to make the plays. That is how it went.”
Chicago is now 6-3 versus Detroit in 2017.
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2s4O2bK
No comments:
Post a Comment