WEST SACRAMENTO ¨C The White Sox overall record reads 7-20 following a decisive 10-3 victory over the Athletics Saturday afternoon at Sutter Health Park.
That ledger wouldn¡¯t fall anywhere near impressive, rebuild or no rebuild. But it¡¯s still a White Sox team showing improvement almost across the board.
¡°We're playing really good baseball games,¡± White Sox catcher Edgar Quero said. ¡°Our pitching is throwing a lot of good baseball. The hitters are doing really good too, taking good ABs. I think we're playing really good. It's just [that] baseball is hard. Sometimes we don't get the W.¡±
Quero is one of the reasons for White Sox optimism, as highlighted by his two hits, two walks and two runs scored during his team¡¯s second win in the last three games. Since arriving from Triple-A Charlotte, Quero has a slash line of .357/.471/.429 with two doubles, five walks and just two strikeouts in 10 games. The switch-hitter just missed a game-tying home run against high-octane Athletics closer Mason Miller Friday, and has shown the ability to be ready for the big moment.
He¡¯s also hitting .667 with a 1.478 OPS when behind in the count.
¡°What stands out with Q is his ability to believe in himself. He goes up there and he knows he's going to give the team a quality at-bat,¡± said White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller of Quero. ¡°You see with a lot of young guys coming up here, you're on TV every night, there's a lot more people in the stands. It can speed up. He slows the game down so well and especially, it's not just early in the count, but when there's two strikes.
¡°He moves his point of contact a little bit deeper, he knows he could go through that six-hole when he's hitting lefty. Knock through that six-hole that they're leaving open. So he has the ability to slow the game down and let it come to him.¡±
During a four-run first Saturday, Quero walked and scored. During a two-run second, Quero singled to right and drove in a run. His gamecalling has been strong, working with Jonathan Cannon over 7 2/3 innings in the right-hander¡¯s first victory of the season Saturday.
Tyler Gilbert opened again, making him the first White Sox pitcher to start back-to-back days since Clause Osteen from July 20-21, 1975 (one-third of an inning and 2 1/3 innings for Osteen). Cannon almost finished what the White Sox started, coming within one out of pitching the final eight innings.
Cannon threw 32 changeups among his 95 pitches, getting a game-high 10 swings and misses on that pitch, per Statcast. He laughed about being able to close out Saturday if not for the two-out sinker thrown to Nick Kurtz, resulting in a run-scoring single.
¡°I wish I threw Kurtz a changeup. It was a little frustrating, but it was good,¡± said Cannon, who struck out five and walked two. ¡°Throwing strikes early in the count, getting weak contact, even in there in the ninth, give up a leadoff triple, two quick outs and had him. Just kind of a bad pitch selection on my part, I shook off and called that sinker. Just throwing strikes, getting ahead, staying ahead is the key.¡±
¡°Overall, offensively, we didn¡¯t do much,¡± A¡¯s manager Mark Kotsay said. ¡°Sometimes you give a pitcher credit, and I thought the job their starter did was pretty good."
Every White Sox starter but Jacob Amaya reached base Saturday, although Amaya drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Every starter but Amaya and Andrew Vaughn had a hit, with Michael A. Taylor knocking out three doubles.
Miguel Vargas had two more, giving him a trio of multi-hit efforts in his last four games and an 8-for-23 stretch in his last six. These results come after Vargas changed his plate approach, moving his hands higher up to help cover a hole with middle and top of the zone offerings.
¡°Obviously it's always good to have good results. I'm happy for that,¡± Vargas said. ¡°It's not a big change. It's nothing crazy that I have to work hard through. It's little things and I'm happy to have good results."
Luis Robert Jr. homered, scored three runs and picked up his ninth stolen base. All of the aforementioned players are not only part of the White Sox present, but also part of the White Sox future, even if Robert is more about trade value, giving them hope beyond the raw record.
¡°We really do have a great group of guys, and you can just see the progress in everyone,¡± Cannon said. ¡°Everyone's kind of taking steps forward, and we're playing clean baseball.¡±