CHICAGO – Miguel Vargas has shaken off any remains of a slow start to become perhaps the best White Sox hitter of late.
In the sixth inning, Vargas blasted a changeup from Brewers reliever Craig Yoho 367 feet for a three-run home run. After Yoho allowed a single and walked three batters to begin the seventh, Luis Robert Jr. blew the game open with a bases-clearing double off of a belt-high fastball.
Vargas and Robert struggled to begin the season, each batting below .150 on April 21, but they’ve caught fire lately and accounted for seven RBI Thursday as the White Sox defeated the Brewers 8-0 at Rate Field. That marked the White Sox fifth win by seven-plus runs, tied for most in MLB with the crosstown rival Cubs.
Starting pitcher Sean Burke had one of his strongest outings of the season, tossing six scoreless innings to earn the win. With this victory, the White Sox avoided the series sweep and improved to 8-23 on the season ahead of Friday’s 6:40 p.m. CT first pitch against the Houston Astros.
The White Sox used an opener last week when Burke’s turn in the rotation came up, but they opted not to use one Thursday. It ended up being a comfortable win, but it wasn’t looking that way in the top of the first as Burke loaded the bases with three walks. Rhys Hoskins crushed a hanging curveball with a 106.5 mph exit velocity, but White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. made a leaping catch as he collided with the wall.
Though he’s unsure whether he robbed Hoskins of a grand slam, Robert knew he had a chance to make the catch.
“All I know is I caught the ball,” Robert said postgame.
Burke and Venable breathed a sigh of relief as the White Sox escaped a first-inning jam.
“Something to the likes of, ‘Holy explicit, I can’t believe you caught that, thank the lord.’ Something like that,” Burke said of his reaction to Robert’s catch. “I don’t even remember, but that catch was insane. I owe Luis something. I don’t know what I owe him. He’s got a lot more money than I do, but I owe him something.”
“Luis bailed us out there,” Venable said. “To walk three guys and come out of it with no damage, credit to Luis for making a great play.”
After a shaky first inning, Burke mowed down the Brewers the rest of his outing. He faced the minimum during the second, third and fourth innings, helping himself out by picking off Joey Ortiz, who singled in the second. Burke allowed a two-out double to Eric Haase in the fifth, but that was no problem as he struck out Brice Turang with a high and inside fastball at 94.9 mph to end the inning..
“It’s fastball command. [Burke] didn’t have it early and then was able to make an adjustment and get into a groove there,” Venable said. “They never really threatened at all against him there so just a really nice job of making an in-game adjustment.”
Burke worked a one-two-three sixth inning against the heart of the Brewers’ order to cap off his second scoreless outing of the season and first since Opening Day. He finished with six innings, two hits, zero runs, three walks and five strikeouts.
“Honestly, just trying to let it eat in the zone,” Burke said of his turning things around after three walks in the first.
“I feel like my misses weren’t too big in the first inning, but I feel like I was kind of being a little bit too fine. Just trying to get back in the zone, flood the top half of the zone with my fastball and let the other stuff play off of it.”
White Sox relievers Mike Vasil, Brandon Eisert and Jared Shuster closed the game strong as just two Brewers reached base – a walk and a Vargas fielding error – across the final three frames.
Any additional runs after Robert’s RBI single in the first wound up being unnecessary because of the pitching staff’s stellar day. But he and Vargas put an exclamation point on the win by driving in six runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
During spring training, Brewers manager Pat Murphy chose Yoho’s changeup when asked to pick the single nastiest pitch in camp, according to an article on MLB.com. But the White Sox had no issues with it, especially Vargas. Yoho relieved Brewers starter Chad Patrick with two outs in the sixth, but he gave up the Vargas home run on a changeup in his first at-bat. Yoho allowed three hits, five runs and four walks in one inning.
Vargas extended his hit streak to eight games, going 1-for-3 with three RBI, one run and a walk. During that stretch, he’s 13-for-29 with his only two home runs of the season, good for a .448 batting average. One of the main adjustments has been holding his hands higher in order to handle velocity at the top of the zone.
White Sox general manager Chris Getz anticipated a surge from Robert at the plate once the weather turned, and he’s been correct so far. During a six-game hit streak, Robert is 8-for-24 at the plate with three home runs, seven RBI, six stolen bases and six runs.
In his return from a thumb injury, rookie infielder Chase Meidroth led off the game with a 107.1 mph double and contributed two runs, a walk and a few nice defensive plays. It’s fair to say the 23-year-old adds a certain energy to the team, Venable noted.
“I think we’re seeing it. He’s going out there running hard, playing hard,” Venable said. “He competes every moment of the game like a lot of our guys do. So it’s great to have him there setting the tone.”
The White Sox tied their fourth-highest scoring game and pitched their third shutout of the season on Thursday, making for a well-rounded performance.
“It was great. Did a really good job in every phase there,” Venable said. “The Vargas error got caught in between, but otherwise a really clean game. And after those walks early by Burke, I thought we attacked the zone and kept them on their heels. Then obviously at the plate we did what we had to do.”
