The White Sox won last night and tonight on gifts by the Toronto Blue Jays. These were key games because Detroit is two games behind, and won yesterday and today. Yesterday, the Sox won 3-2, and their third and winning run scored on a wild throw by the pitcher on a pickoff.
Tonight, the Blue Jays hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 4 and get some momentum. In the top of the seventh, the Sox had a lefty batter facing a lefty pitcher. The pitcher walked him, then hit the next batter. Both gifts. That brought up Dunn, who is a lefty. The manager took out his lefty pitcher, and brought in a righty to face Dunn! The pitcher immediately went 2-0 on him, putting himself in a hole. My son was in the room but not watching, and when he heard the count, he laughed, said “here comes a fastball,” and came over to watch the pitch, as we both knew it would be a homerun. After he said “here comes a fastball,” I said, I know he’ll throw a fastball which is stupid, but at least make it high. The pitcher threw a low fastball, and Dunn hit a three-run homer, making the score 7-4 and changing the game. Later in the inning, the pitcher went 3-1 on Viciedo, again putting himself in a hole, and threw a fastball down the middle that Viciedo hit for a 2-run homerun. I guess managers will never learn. A 4-4 game with momentum became a 9-4 game due to terrible strategy. These 5 gift runs gave the Sox a 9-5 win, and kept them 2 games up on Detroit.