The White Sox (73-65) rebounded from Monday's rough loss to the Astros (70-69), defeating Houston behind South Side ace Sean Burke. The righthander earned his eighth win of the season.
Despite getting off to a rocky start in the bottom of the first, Burke battled through his 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit while walking three and striking out six. The righty started the game with back-to-back walks. To his credit, Burke battled back from 3-0 to fill the count against Yordan Alvarez, but ultimately walked him to put two runners on with no outs. To be fair, a walk beats Yordan blasting a home run over the right-field wall, so all things considered, I'll take it. Burke was able to lock in and induce three consecutive fly outs to get out of the jam. There was one final scare when José Altuve drove a ball to the wall in left, but Sam Antonacci had just enough room to make the catch.
Once Burke put the first inning behind him, he recovered beautifully and did not surrender a hit until the fifth. It would be the first and only hit he allowed. Burke labored early, running the count full five times and needing 49 pitches to complete the first two frames. He did, however, limit the damage and kept the Astros off the scoreboard.
The righty settled in during the third, needing only nine pitches to retire Houston in order. He also froze Alvarez with a 95-mph fastball for his second strikeout of the night. Burke rang up two more in the fourth, preserving the no-hitter a little longer. With one out in the fifth, Taylor Trammell poked a double down the right-field line to finally put Houston in the hit column, but Burke moved right along and recorded the final two outs without incident.
On the other side of the ball, the White Sox scattered a few hits through the first four frames but remained relatively quiet until the fifth. Their recent lack of situational hitting carried into the beginning of this one, and the South Siders made Ronel Blanco look much better than his ERA suggested. Blanco entered with an ERA above 7.00 but stranded five runners and kept the White Sox off the scoreboard. He struck out only three over four innings, while three walks helped drive up his pitch count. Still, he worked through the lineup well enough to keep Houston in the game.
#burke #first #back
Despite getting off to a rocky start in the bottom of the first, Burke battled through his 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit while walking three and striking out six. The righty started the game with back-to-back walks. To his credit, Burke battled back from 3-0 to fill the count against Yordan Alvarez, but ultimately walked him to put two runners on with no outs. To be fair, a walk beats Yordan blasting a home run over the right-field wall, so all things considered, I'll take it. Burke was able to lock in and induce three consecutive fly outs to get out of the jam. There was one final scare when José Altuve drove a ball to the wall in left, but Sam Antonacci had just enough room to make the catch.
Once Burke put the first inning behind him, he recovered beautifully and did not surrender a hit until the fifth. It would be the first and only hit he allowed. Burke labored early, running the count full five times and needing 49 pitches to complete the first two frames. He did, however, limit the damage and kept the Astros off the scoreboard.
The righty settled in during the third, needing only nine pitches to retire Houston in order. He also froze Alvarez with a 95-mph fastball for his second strikeout of the night. Burke rang up two more in the fourth, preserving the no-hitter a little longer. With one out in the fifth, Taylor Trammell poked a double down the right-field line to finally put Houston in the hit column, but Burke moved right along and recorded the final two outs without incident.
On the other side of the ball, the White Sox scattered a few hits through the first four frames but remained relatively quiet until the fifth. Their recent lack of situational hitting carried into the beginning of this one, and the South Siders made Ronel Blanco look much better than his ERA suggested. Blanco entered with an ERA above 7.00 but stranded five runners and kept the White Sox off the scoreboard. He struck out only three over four innings, while three walks helped drive up his pitch count. Still, he worked through the lineup well enough to keep Houston in the game.
#burke #first #back
12 days ago
