White Sox 3, Royals 3: Twinsies!
Well, we wanted to be just like Kansas City after all
The best part of this game was when Kansas City Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre roasted the White Sox franchise on the radio broadcast with the following observation, “Doesn’t it feel like the Royals opened a branch office on the South Side of Chicago?” His partner, Steve Stewart, promptly replied, “Well, the list is long.”
Unfortunately, Garrett Crochet didn’t have the pre-Opening Day start we hoped to see this afternoon as he labored throughout his 3 2⁄3 innings. During the 68-pitch outing, he surrendered three runs on five hits — including a two-run bomb to Nick Pratto — with one walk, one wild pitch, and two strikeouts. Sadly, as a result, he erased his perfect 0.00 ERA during Cactus League play and will close out the spring with a 2.13 ERA over 12 2⁄3 innings and five appearances.
The Sox bullpen, including Jordan Leasure, Johnny Ray, John Brebbia, Tim Hill, and Deivi García, had another strong showing, giving up no runs over 5 1⁄3 innings. Leasure really continued to impress. Despite allowing the first two batters he faced to get on base in the fifth, he pitched around the trouble and struck out two to maintain his scoreless spring. The 25-year-old has likely solidified his position on the big league roster with his outstanding overall spring training performance.
The South Side offense managed to scratch out three runs on nine hits, including a Martín Maldonado RBI double to kick off the scoring in the second. Paul DeJong and Andrew Benintendi continued their solid springs with clutch RBI singles in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3. Luis Robert Jr. also had a nice afternoon, with two singles in four at-bats.
The Sox have four spring training games remaining, with a split doubleheader tomorrow at home against the Oakland A’s at 3:05 p.m. CST and an away contest against the Los Angeles Angels at 3:10 p.m. CST. Neither will have a TV or radio broadcast, so check back here at South Side Sox for all of the details.