The Chicago White Sox have a chance to end their six-game road trip on a positive note with a series win Wednesday night against the host Toronto Blue Jays.
Chicago split the first two contests of a three-game set against Toronto with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday night.
It was Chicago’s first win on the trip that started with a three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees.
White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet allowed only two hits and a walk in six innings Tuesday to stretch his runless streak to 19 innings. The bullpen followed with three straight clean innings, including strikeouts of five of the final six Toronto batters.
Over his past four starts, Crochet has gone 4-0 with a 0.39 ERA, with four walks and 27 strikeouts. On Tuesday, he did not allow a baserunner until Justin Turner hit a one-out double in the fifth to end a 0-for-30 slump.
‘You tip your hat, man. That kid throws 100,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He’s got good (stuff). That’s his third good game in a row. We hit some balls hard but didn’t get much going. You tip your hat to a good pitcher.”
“He’s a special one,” White Sox catcher Korey Lee said. “We’re lucky that we have him on our team. He had all his pitches working in the zone. Good things happen when we have options like that.”
The White Sox scored all of their runs with two out, including a two-run single by Corey Julks in the fifth and a two-run double by Danny Mendick in the eighth inning.
“That’s something that we’ve needed here for a little bit,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “Guys stepped up.”
Chicago’s Eloy Jimenez left after straining his left hamstring while scoring from second base on Julks’ hit in the fifth. Gavin Sheets replaced him as designated hitter in the seventh.
Grifol said he expected Jimenez to miss at least two games, but was not sure how much longer he would be out.
“We won’t know ’til tomorrow,” Grifol said. “Obviously you’ve got to see how he wakes up.”
Turner’s drought at the plate was the longest of his career. It came after a strong start to the season. He said he felt things were improving Tuesday, and the struggling Toronto offense needs all the help it can get.
The Jays are sandwiched between the Oakland Athletics and the White Sox for fewest runs in the American League.
“I thought the at-bats were way better just overall,” Turner said. “Recognizing, being on time, being able to get a good swing off, contact point was better.
“You’ve just got to keep working and trust the process and keep trying to get the right feels in the box, really. It’s a crazy game. It’s amazing how good you can feel one moment, and then you lose it at the snap of a finger, and then you’ve got to fight and work to get it back. Honestly, that’s what I love about the game. If it was easy all the time, a lot more people would be doing it.”
Chicago is scheduled to start rookie right-hander Nick Nastrini (0-2, 7.88 ERA) in the series finale. He will be making his third career start and first against the Blue Jays.
Toronto is set to counter with right-hander Chris Bassitt (3-6, 5.03). He is 3-2 with a 3.89 ERA in seven career starts against the White Sox.
–Field Level Media
