ACL White Sox rally late, bullpen shuts down ACL Reds in 4-3 win
Glendale, Arizona – The ACL White Sox’ offense was kept quiet for the most part on Tuesday night. They were held to just one hit deep into the ballgame and it took them until the sixth inning to get on the scoreboard. Once they did, they used it as momentum as they put up a total of four runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. This gave the club a 4-3 lead, which was good enough to secure the come from behind victory over the ACL Reds.
Jacob Gilliand got the start for the ACL White Sox and the Reds piled on two runs before the White Sox got a chance to bat. Gilliand would eventually settle in, keeping the ball in the infield and using strikeouts to get out of any further trouble. Gilliand did a good job of throwing strikes tonight and he didn’t let the early runs get to him.
Final line: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
After Gilliland left the game, the combination of Homer Cruz and Erick Bello kept the ACL Reds silent for the rest of the evening. The two of them threw a combined four innings while giving up one hit, no walks, and three strikeouts. The ACL White Sox pitching staff went through the entire game on Tuesday without allowing a free pass, which is something you don’t see too often in rookie ball.
The ACL White Sox got the scoring started on back-to-back doubles by Jagger Rusconi and Benyamin Bailey. Rusconi provided the few highlights of the night up until this point by reaching base three times on two doubles and an error. Bailey continues to show the ability of getting on-base at a high clip by doubling and walking tonight. His OBP through five games is .600 so far.
Jefferson Mendoza was the battery mate for the pitching staff on Tuesday night and I thought he did a good job behind the dish. He received the ball pretty well throughout the game, stealing a few strikes for his pitchers. He flashed his arm by sending a great throw over to third on a stolen base attempt. The runner was called safe, but the throw beat him to the bag and it looked like he gunned him down in real time.
Offensively, Mendoza had a quiet night and went hitless. He drove in a run on sacrifice fly that was dropped by the right fielder in the bottom of the eighth. This gave the ACL White Sox their first lead and ended up being the game winning run.
Center fielder, E.P. Reese had an impressive game tonight and was a factor in the ACL White Sox comeback victory. The 23-year-old free agent signing from the offseason jumped on a first pitch fastball, sending it through the left-side of the infield for a two-out RBI single. This made it a one-run game and Reese would come around to score on two throwing errors to tie things up in the bottom of the seventh.
Reese played a strong center field tonight as well. In the following inning, he got a great jump and great read off the bat on a ball that was smoked over his head. He managed to track it down to record the out and prevent extra bases from being earned.
After the ACL White Sox took the lead in the bottom of the eighth, that was all they needed as Gilliland and the bullpen cruised through the rest of the night. The win puts the ACL White Sox back to .500 at 3-3. The team will be back in action on Thursday, July 8 as they host the ACL Brewers Blue at Camelback Ranch.
Feature Photo Credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
