Mike Clevinger has been sharp since his return from the injured checklist.
That continued Sunday, when he allowed one run on one hit whereas placing out 10 in seven innings because the Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6-1 in entrance of 20,236 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“Clevinger was excellent,” supervisor Pedro Grifol mentioned.
Esteury Ruiz broke up the no-hit bid by main off the sixth inning with a bloop single to left on a 3-2 pitch.
Clevinger and relievers Lane Ramsey and Tanner Banks mixed for a two-hitter.
The Sox earned a break up within the four-game sequence, with numerous levels of pitching from the employees. The Sox allowed 5 house runs in Thursday’s 8-5 loss. Starter Dylan Cease allowed eight earned runs in Friday’s 12-4 defeat.
Touki Toussaint and Clevinger set the tone in wins Saturday and Sunday.
Here are three takeaways from the sequence.
1. Clevinger’s work whereas on the IL is paying off.
Clevinger was conscious because the afternoon progressed that the A’s didn’t have successful.
“Especially around the fifth you start to notice,” Clevinger mentioned.
While there wasn’t a no-hitter, Clevinger continued to point out that the work he put in whereas he was on the IL was paying off.
“We found a lot of things mechanically during that stint on the IL,” he mentioned. “(I’m) just finally getting in a groove of being able to just go about my work and not worry about being hurt or not having something stop me from doing certain things in the weight room or stop me from doing certain things on the field.”
Clevinger has a 2.31 ERA in six begins since coming back from the IL. He was out June 16 to July 29 with proper biceps irritation.
“Right around when he got hurt (against) the (Los Angeles) Dodgers, he was showing what he showed today,” Grifol mentioned. “And when he acquired harm, they didn’t simply sit again and (say) ‘I’ve acquired to get well from my damage.’ They truly set to work on the psychological facet, on the game-planning facet, mechanical facet.
“They put in some really good work.”
2. Yoán Moncada continues to excel defensively.
Moncada had 4 hits and drove in two on Sunday.
But the third baseman’s prime second might need come defensively when he charged Tony Kemp’s sluggish grounder within the seventh and fired to first base in time for the out.
“That (glove-to-hand) exchange without even taking a step, that’s the kind of ability he’s got,” Grifol mentioned.
Moncada mentioned via an interpreter the important thing on that play was he acquired “rid of the ball as quick as possible.”
“That’s a play that I’ve done before, but today I got rid of the ball even quicker than before,” Moncada mentioned.
Moncada, who missed time this season with two back-related IL stints, has hit safely in eight of his final 9 video games, going 12-for-32 (.375) with 4 doubles, one house run, eight RBIs and three runs. He had a three-run homer Saturday.
“I’ve been feeling good lately at the plate,” Moncada mentioned. “I just need to keep working to keep that rhythm.”
3. Toussaint prevented a 1-inning hiccup.
Grifol just lately famous it’s normally one inning in every outing that offers Toussaint matches.
Toussaint prevented these hiccups in Saturday’s 6-2 win, permitting two hits in 5 scoreless innings.
“The walks are still something I’m working on,” Toussaint mentioned, “but other than that I felt pretty consistent, being able to make pitches when I needed to.”
Toussaint struck out 4 and walked three within the 94-pitch begin.
“He’s got a good fastball, he’s got a good sinker,” Grifol mentioned after Saturday’s recreation. “He’s got the capabilities of pitching down in the zone, keeping the ball on the ground, and minimizing damage, minimizing slug. This is what he did today.”
It was the fourth time in his profession he went at the least 5 innings with out permitting a run.
Grifol desires Toussaint to proceed to work on “game management” to result in longer outings, which he additionally addressed with catcher Korey Lee.
“Calling the game is based on three things, which is the scoreboard, the pitcher’s strengths and game planning,” Grifol mentioned. “If you only get two to pick, I’m picking the scoreboard and the strengths, and I’m going to leave game planning on the table. That’s just because a lot of things happen during the game that you can use to your advantage to economize some pitches.”
Grifol noticed that Sunday with the veteran combo of Clevinger and catcher Yasmani Grandal.
“Grandal did a great job calling the game,” Grifol mentioned Sunday. “Staying on the attack. Good game planning, stayed with (Clevinger’s) strengths and they executed all game long.”
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