Samuel Zavala leads the attack of the organizational All-Stars

White Sox rally for six in ninth, knock off Reds, 8-5

The death of the White Sox offense turns out to have been greatly exaggerated.

Wait, are we talking about the major league offense? Oh yeah, that still sucks. But a bevy of mid-minors diamonds rallied the White Sox to a come-from-behind, 8-5 win over the Reds at Goodyear Field on Friday. The win ensured the White Sox double-digit wins in Cactus League play, would they be so lucky to say same for real by the end of April.

The ninth-inning mauling was kicked off by Samuel Zavala, heartening fans who’ve given up on the Dylan Cease trade with a double (spoiler alert: Zavala would have an RBI single later in the inning, doubling our faith). Then, in a moment that only the broadcast-free fun of Cactus League coverage of modern baseball’s worst team ever can supply, a mysterious unrecorded error (?) in right field sent Zavala to third base on the play. From there, Bryan Ramos doubled to trim Cincy’s lead to 5-3.

The hit parade continued, and deficit shrunk to one, with an Adam Hackenberg single, and Andre Lipcius matched that to put runners on first and second, still nobody out, game ready to blow wide open.

Then, in what can only be described as a scrimmage-game learning-experience exercise, Matt Hogan sac-bunted the runners over to give away an out but put ducks on the pond. Caden Connor picked both Hogan and manager Will Venable up with another single, this one driving in two and giving the White Sox a 6-5 lead.

Eddie Park then did what he does best, walk, and one Wilber Sánchez strikeout later Rikuu Nishida singled to pad the lead to 7-5. Cincinnati made its third pitching change of the inning to try to stem the bleeding, but it was no dice, as Zavala singled in Park to push the game to its eventual 8-5 final (just for kicks, because Zavala hadn’t done enough in the frame, the speedster swiped second and put Ramos in position for more trouble; alas, an infield pop ended the fun).

Some other swell positives

• The South Siders walked seven times (late lineup insertion Corey Julks, fighting for a spare spot in the big club’s outfield, took three of them) and struck out just five. It is assured you will not see such a ratio at any point in the coming season
• Subs in this game — the aforementioned organizational All-Stars — went 7-for-11 in essentially one inning of work
• Fraser Ellard solidified a lefty spot in the big league pen with 1 1⁄3 innings of spotless work, with three of his four outs coming on Ks
• 2024 seventh-rounder Phil Fox, sitting out the end of the season after the draft last summer and yet to appear in official Cactus League play, made his White Sox and pro debut in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning and K, earning the save
• The offense — yes, another plaudit for the hitters — converted with seven hits in 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position
• Also, yeah one more, the offense was 16-of-37 for the game, with five doubles

Some stuff that sorta sucked

• Opening Day starter Sean Burke got jumped by Cincy, getting just 10 outs and serving up all five Reds runs, on six hits and four walks. He ends the spring with a 2.000 WHIP and 6.75 ERA, but seriously, who the hell else gonna start on Thursday?
• In an era where stolen bases by anyone lighter than 250 pounds and younger than 40 should be like stealing steak from a vegan, the White Sox were caught in 2-of-3 attempts
• The White Sox left 13 on base, which frankly for this offense is a mixed blessing, because just getting guys on base, stranded or not, is cause for celebration

With four games still to play, the South Siders theoretically could end spring at nigh .500. Plus, tomorrow brings split-squad action sure to excite, as Noah Schultz starts against the Rockies while similarly Barons-bound Hagen Smith faces the Mariners.

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There is a possibility that a platform change will force us to at least temporarily lose our ability to run polls. Thus we are going to experiment today with a text poll at the end of our story where the proper polls usually reside.

PLEASE LEAVE YOUR MVP AND COLD CAT PICKS IN THE COMMENTS.

Who is the MVP of today’s stirring comeback at Goodyear Park?

• Samuel Zavala: 2-for-2, 2B, R, RBI, SB
• Caden Connor: 1-for-1, 2 RBI incl. GWRBI
• Bobby Dalbec: 3-for-4, R, RBI, 2B, K
• Corey Julks: 0-for-1, 3 BB
• Jacob Amaya: 1-for-2, 2 BB, RBI, K
• Phil Fox: IP, K, SAVE (1) in first White Sox appearance ever
• Fraser Ellard: 1 1⁄3 IP, 3 K
• Bryan Ramos: 1-for-2, R, RBI, 2B, HBP

Who was the White Sox Cold Cat, which we’ll almost completely overlook because of the stirring win?

• Sean Burke: 3 1⁄3 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 5 ER, 2 K, HR, E, 2 WP
• Austin Slater: 0-for-3, CS
• Brooks Baldwin: 1-for-4, GIDP, CS
• Wilber Sánchez: 0-for-1, K, only hitter to do zero damage in that stirring ninth