White Sox 7, Rangers 6: Texas’ late-inning comeback falls short

And apparently Joey Gallo became a pitcher mid-game?

The White Sox moved to 8-14 in Spring Training play with a 7-6 win against the Texas Rangers this afternoon. This being one of two games being played today (with the Spring Breakout loss coming in a separate recap), let’s take a look at today’s win.

But first, here’s something that might give you a laugh:

Since this morning, Joey Gallo has had a whirlwind of a day. First, he was set to be in the White Sox lineup as the first baseman. Then, he was released by the team. Immediately following, he put out a statement on social media saying he was now going to convert to a pitcher, and hopes to be on a team doing so. Although he pitched in high school, I assume it will be harder to transfer that skill to the big leagues … but hey, you never know what to expect as a White Sox fan. Knowing our luck, Gallo will throw a no-hitter against us in the near future.

Anyways, back to the game. Jack Leiter started for the Rangers, and was greeted with a rough first inning. Nick Maton had a one-out double, followed by a Bryan Ramos triple for the first run of the game. The sound off of the bat was beautiful, too.

Matt Thaiss kept the scoring going with a double to left that extended the lead to 2-0.

Bryse Wilson started on the mound for the South Siders, and gave the lead right up in the first. Marcus Semien singled, followed by a Josh Smith triple to score a run. Adolis García’s sacrifice fly brought Smith in from third base to tie the game right back up.

Leiter settled down after the first, going four innings with four hits, two runs, three walks, and four strikeouts. Wilson also had a solid outing, going three innings with three hits, two runs, and five strikeouts. After Ramos reached on an error in the top of the fifth inning, Thaiss doubled again, to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead.

Corey Julks started off the top of the sixth inning with a single, and Tristan Gray extended the lead with a two-run home run to right. Do we think Will Venable is OK with swinging on a 3-0 count?

Later on in the inning, Maton added a solo shot to extend the lead to 6-2, his third long ball of the spring.

One more run came from Sam Antonacci in the top of the eighth inning, on a sacrifice fly to bring in Julks. Antonacci was a fifth round pick out of Coastal Carolina in last year’s draft, joined the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers after being selected.

Of course, the White Sox have no easy wins, as a Rangers comeback in the ninth inning was stopped just short: Joseph Yabbour started off the inning with back-to-back walks, and a ground out scored a run to make it 7-3. Frainyer Chavez had a double to score another run, and Bryce Collins was forced to come in to finish the job. Our second Bryce of the day let up a single to Dustin Harris to make it a 7-5 lead, and a wild pitch-walk-wild pitch led to another run for the Rangers. Mercifully, Alan Trejo popped out to end the game.

Oh and, a big announcement for Sean Burke. If you missed it pregame, Burke was named Chicago’s Opening Day starter. Although there isn’t necessarily much to pick from, it was still shocking to hear a name that we didn’t really expect.

Burke was a third round pick in 2021 and made his MLB debut last season. He appeared in four games with a 2-0 record, four runs, and 22 strikeouts in 19 innings. He spent the first half of last season with the Charlotte Knights. So far this spring he has a 4.15 ERA with six strikeouts in 8 2⁄3 innings pitched. Other honorable nominees were Davis Martin, or … well, I guess that’s it.

Congrats to Burke, and we will see him on Opening Day.

Well, that’s it for this game. Melissa’s got you covered for the Spring Breakout recap, and then the team will be back together tomorrow at Camelback Ranch to take on the San Francisco Giants at 3:05 p.m. CT.