To start tonight’s coverage, I’d be amiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to AL Pitcher of the Month, Garrett Crochet.

Pitcher of the Month stuff 😤 pic.twitter.com/0tH2dSQH0g

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 3, 2024

He’s been absolutely fantastic this season and is likely the White Sox All-Star representative. Trade rumors surrounding the southpaw have been relatively abundant lately, but for now, we’ll enjoy him while he’s still here. Congratulations to the big lefty!

This contest had it all, and I found myself genuinely enjoying a White Sox baseball game. Erick Fedde was masterful. He faced a tiny bit of traffic on the basepaths in the third when the Guardians managed to score one on an Andrés Giménez sacrifice fly — a play that Luis Robert Jr. made with a fantastic dive to prevent any additional damage.

Fedde earned his ninth quality start on the season and surrendered only one run on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts over six innings for the win. The veteran is really doing his best to get traded by the deadline. He has reportedly been a significant influence on some of the young Sox pitchers, so it is truly a shame he can’t stick around.

Chicago’s offense ruined Cleveland starter Gavin Williams’ return to the mound after he strained his right elbow during spring training. The lefthander had a pretty impressive rookie season last year but wasn’t sharp tonight, lasting only four innings.

The White Sox struck first, managing to get things rolling with two outs to lead off the game, putting up one tally courtesy of an Andrew Vaughn single. This unexpected offensive burst was a much-needed change of pace and set the tone for the rest of the game.

Then, in the top of the fourth, the Good Guys put up a four-spot on five hits. If I was smart enough to dig around in this year’s stats, I’d bet this hasn’t happened often. The inning highlights included doubles by Lenyn Sosa (who was 3-for-4 with an RBI), Nicky Lopez, and Andrew Benintendi. Martín Maldonado also had a key, two-out RBI single and was so excited after hitting it that he went into the dugout to give Eloy Jiménez a huge hug. It was actually quite sweet.

In the seventh, the Sox added an insurance run after a single by Sosa drove home Robert, who had doubled.

That hug between Maldy and the Big Baby must have provided Maldonado with superhero strength because he also clobbered a two-run bomb in the top of the eighth, giving Chicago an 8-2 lead. The 37-year-old has struggled mightly in 2024, and seeing his teammates so happy for him was pretty cool.

The South Side pen did its job for the most part. Justin Anderson came on in the seventh in relief of Fedde and couldn’t make it out of the inning. After getting two outs, Brayan Rocchio launched a solo shot, and Pedro Grifol didn’t hesitate to give him the hook. Then Tanner Banks, “The New Bryan Shaw,” came out and K’d Steven Kwan to end the inning. Wilson pitched the ninth to shut down the Guardians and secure the victory.

The Sox are now 25-63 on the season. It’s not much, but I’ll take all the wins I can get.

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