Tagged: Blake Tekotte

Quintana Solid in Sunday’s Matinee Tie with Rockies

In a Sunday matinee, Jose Quintana and the White Sox looked to get back on the winning track.  After back to back terrible outings, Quintana was trying to settle down and pitch the best he could in his next to last start of the spring.

Sunday’s game was definitely Quintana at his best.  In a five inning shutout, he gave up only one hit to Wilin Rosario to center field.  After a fly out, Quintana would pick Rosario off first base and then would get Josh Rutledge to ground out to get out of the second inning.  Quintana would also finish with a pair of strike outs as well.

Connor Gillaspie continued his solid spring with two doubles in the game. Outfielders Alejandro DeAza and Blake Tekotte would also get two hits in the game.  One of Tekotte’s hits was a double to right field that scored DeAza in the second.  The Sox as a team would get 11 hits as a team.

Tyler Flowers would tally the second run for the Sox as he scored on a single by Leury Garcia.  Adam Eaton would follow Garcia with a single to left scoring Blake Tekotte.  These runs would give the Sox a three to nothing lead.

They would also add two more runs in the fifth on a Konerko single and a Tyler Flowers fielder’s choice.  These were the last runs that the Sox would put across the plate on Sunday for the pitchers.  Quintana left the game after the fifth with the lead.

Colorado would crawl their way back into the game with a ground out by Jackson Williams in the bottom of the sixth to score DJ LeMahieu.  They would add another in the bottom of the seventh on a single by Jordan Pacheco to left that scored Drew Stubbs making it 5-2.

The Rockies would add three more in the eighth inning to tie the game up on one hit.  Josh Rutledge would lead off the inning against reliever Scott Downs with a single to left field.  A wild pitch by Downs would lead to Josh Rutledge scoring after he stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Kevan Smith.  An error by shortstop Marcus Semien would then allow both Charlie Culberson and Ryan Wheeler to score who got on base by walks.

Neither team would add runs in the ninth leading to the game being called a tie.  It’s the White Sox’s fifth tie of the spring.  The next game is Monday afternoon affair against the Seattle Mariners with rookie Eric Johnson getting the nod for the Sox.

 

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White Sox Tie Padres but Fall to Giants in Split Squad Action

Saturday saw the White Sox play in their last two split squad games before the conclusion of spring training.  The White Sox sent one squad to the San Diego Padres camp, while the other squad welcomed the San Francisco Giants to Camelback Ranch.

In the first matchup versus the San Diego Padres, the White Sox managed to put up a little offense for Chris Beck, their rookie right-handed starting pitcher.   Avisail Garcia started the scoring out in the most unfortunate way: by a double play to second base which scored Micah Johnson in the top of the third inning to tie it up 1-1.

Garcia came back up in the top of the eighth inning and hit a single to right field off of Padres’ first baseman Yonder Alonso to score Micah Johnson.  Adam Dunn then added a run with a ground out to first base which scored right fielder Denis Phipps, making it 3-1.  The White Sox offense failed to add any more runs in the ninth.

Second baseman Micah Johnson, third baseman Connor Gillaspie, and left fielder Dayan Viciedo went two for four each in the game.  Adam Dunn also went one for two with a pair of walks.

Starter Chris Beck and the White Sox relievers turned their performances around a little bit as compared to the previous couple games.  Beck turned in a decent five innings in which he gave up five hits and one earned run.  He also gave up a walk while striking out five batters.  The bottom of the first was Beck’s only blemish in the run category. He gave up a line drive double to left field center which scored Alexi Amarista.

Both relievers, Scott Carroll and Dylan Axelrod, followed up Beck’s performance with two hit-one run performances themselves.  Carroll did it while locking down the sixth through eighth innings, while Axelrod was given the blown save in the ninth.

The game ended after the ninth inning as a 3-3 tie.

In the second matchup of the day, the White Sox took on the Tim Hudson and the San Francisco Giants.

The Sox sent Felipe Paulino to the hill in his fifth start of the spring.  Much like his last start, Paulino created his own trouble.  The second inning started off with a base on balls to Brandon Hicks and the inning just got worse from there.  After a double play to Juan Perez, Paulino walked Giants first baseman Mark Minicozzi, and gave up a back to back singles to Ehire Adrianza and Tim Hudson to load the bases.  Center fielder Gregor Blanco then walked giving the Giants their first run of the game.

From the third through fifth innings, Paulino calmed down and went the minimum faced even though he gave up a walk to Juan Perez in the forth.  The sixth inning is where things fell apart.

Buster Posey, who went three for four on the day, led off with a single then stole second base.  After a single that moved Posey to third and a stolen base by Brandon Hicks, Juan Perez hit a three-run homer to left field off of Paulino making it 4-1.  Minicozzi would chase Paulino with his single to center.

As for the Sox, Alejandro DeAza got the offense going with his first home run to right field in the second inning.  The Sox offense finally came to life in the seventh inning with a double by back-up catcher to right field.  Right fielder Blake Tekotte and center fielder Adam Eaton followed the double up with singles of their own scoring Nieto.

After a fielder’s choice ground out by second baseman Marcus Semien moves Blake Tekotte out to third.  First baseman Dan Black would fly out to left scoring Tekotte making it seven to three.

After a pitching change by the Giants, pitch hitter Grant Buckner doubled to left field which scored Semien and Black making it seven to five.

The Giants would add one in the ninth, but the Sox would go out in order in the eighth.  In the ninth the Sox would get a single by Dan Black and had Grant Buckner reach on a catcher’s interference call.  Unfortunately for the Sox neither player would score.  The White Sox would fall by the eight to five score.

The next game was Sunday when the White Sox would travel to take on Tyler Chatwood, Michael Cuddyer and the Colorado Rockies.