The series finale between the White Sox and Red Sox started early on Monday and ended nearly just as early on Monday. A 10:00 am (ct) start in observance of Patriots’ Day was over by roughly 10:45 am after the Red Sox clobbered Lucas Giolito early at Fenway Park in a Patriots Day beatdown of the White Sox.
All you really need to know about this game in particular is that Lucas Giolito tossed just one inning, the Red Sox scored a bunch, Yermin Mercedes was on the mound slinging 75 mph curveballs by the bottom of the seventh inning, and Danny Mendick registered more strikeouts than Giolito — but if your heart desires, you can continue reading.
Giolito K.O.’d
In the words of my son who saw Giolito walking back to the dugout after being yanked in the bottom of the second inning while taking a break from his Zoom-hosted school day, “Woah! What happened!?”
Sometimes it’s just not your day, and today was that day for Lucas Giolito who didn’t escape the second inning in Boston after the Red Sox jumped on his for eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and a pair of walks in just one inning of work after Giolito failed to record a single out in the second inning.
Boston was simply sitting on his changeup and adjusting to the fastball on Monday morning as the first six hitters reached base safely and the Red Sox took a 6-1 lead before Giolito even recorded an out in the home half of the opening frame. Kiké Hernandez took Giolito over the Green Monster (barely) for a leadoff home run in the first inning, and it quickly continued to get worse from there.
The Red Sox would plate five more after the Hernandez homer in the first, and then tack two more onto Giolito’s now 5.30 ERA in the second inning before Tony La Russa brought in Zack Burdi to perform mop-up duty at Fenway Park.
Heating up
A pair of White Sox hitters are heating up, which should help buoy a wildly inconsistent offense. Luis Robert and Tim Anderson have been cooking lately, and here’s what their stat lines look like over the past seven games (four for Anderson who just came off the IL)
Luis Robert: 9-27 (.333), 0 HR, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 SB
Tim Anderson: 9-18 (.500), 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 5 R, 3 SB
Jake Lamb is Really Baaaaaad
I know, I know, the pun police are probably typing up a warrant for my arrest right now after that corny, but irresistible headline. But, it will have been worth it, if the White Sox end this experiment, because it’s been really bad.
Lamb, who played third base on Monday in place of Yoan Moncada (regular day off), and looked lost on a pair of plays during the six-run first inning for the Red Sox, and then had an at-bat in which someone must have told him, specifically, that he wasn’t allowed to swing at anything in or close to the strike zone.
Seriously, he watched two pitches right down the pipe like a seven-year-old in the batter’s box against the hardest throwing kid in the neighborhood in Little League, and then swung and missed at a curveball that spike off the plate.
Jake Lamb is hitting .091 this season, and he’s not doing anything defensively that Danny Mendick can’t. Fire him to the sun the second Adam Engel or Billy Hamilton come off the IL. Better yet, just throw Sox fans a bone and do it today.
Cleveland Awaits
A doubleheader sweep on Saturday ensured that the White Sox would leave Boston with no worse than an even split in their four-game series with the Red Sox, the same result as they saw in their previous four-game series with the Cleveland Indians last week, the same team that they will visit next.
Ironically, the White Sox can achieve a third consecutive series split with the Indians, who they’ll visit for an even two games to close out the brief road trip on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. Both games will be 5:10 pm (ct) starts.
Featured Photo: Boston Red Sox via Twitter
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