White Sox Pounce on Mike Leake, Mariners Lose 10-4

Today’s Mariners game was, to say the least, was unusual. The White Sox came into this game loser of 7 straight, with an ERA of over 8.00 during that span. They’ve scored the second-fewest runs in the American league, yet they scored 10 runs on 18 hits.

The top of the first had a very scary play. Mariners shortstop Jean Segura hit a line drive to Center that ricocheted off Adam Engel, the White Sox center fielder. On the throw into second, Jean slid headfirst into Tim Anderson’s knew, and he went down screaming. He was on the ground for about a minute but was able to stay in the game.

In the bottom of the 1st inning, the floodgates opened. Mike Leake threw a lot of strikes, but the Sox were all over them. the first 7 batters in the White Sox lineup all got on base via a hit. Leake, through the 9 batters faced in the first, did manage to keep his pitch count low. the White Sox were very aggressive against him today.

Leake was chased in the 4th inning, giving up 8 runs on 12 hits.  Luckily, Wade LeBlanc was able to come in and finish the game, so the bullpen wasn’t torn apart. LeBlanc gave up just 2 runs in relief while striking out 6. Neither pitcher walked a batter.

The White Sox 2nd baseman Yoan Moncada had a career game, as he flirted with hitting for the cycle. Moncada was a single shy of getting the great accomplishment, getting the Triple, Double and Homerun all off Mike Leake. 1st baseman Jose Abreu hit 2 Homeruns tonight, and 4 hits total.

The Mariners didn’t go quietly though, with Homeruns from Mike Zunino and Mitch Haniger. Zunino hit his first of the season, and drove the ball hard all night long. Haniger’s Homerun was his 4th straight game with a homerun, his 8th of the season.

Base running seems to still be an issue for the Mariners. Jean Segura was caught in a rundown early in the game, then came a very bizarre play to end the 7th inning. With Ben Gamel up to bat and 1 out, the M’s had 2 on and 1 out. Sox pitcher Chris Beck threw a ball in the dirt that got by catcher Wellington Castillo. Vogelback, on 2nd and Mike Zunino, on 1st, both tried to get back to their base. Zunino ran to second and Vogelbach was on his way back to second when they were both tagged. Then, Vogelbach thought he was out and walked back to the dugout, being tagged again.

Zunino, with a runner ahead of him, should have been the only out. But Vogelbach abandoned 2nd base and was tagged again, resulting in an inning ending double play. The Mariners will need to work on base running because it cost them runs in this game.

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Tomorrows game against Chicago has First Pitch at 2:10 PST. Marco Gonzales (1-2, 5.94) will start for the M’s. the White Sox pitcher has not yet been announced. As always, Go Mariners!