DANE GETS JOB DONE
Rookie righty Dunning picks up his first victory; McCann belts two homers
Rookie right-hander Dane Dunning pitched six-plus innings of scoreless ball, catcher James McCann belted two home runs for the first time in his career and the White Sox rebounded from one of their worst losses of the season with an 8-1 victory against the host Pirates on Wednesday night.
Coupled with a Royals win over the Indians, the Sox (27-16) broke free from a firstplace tie with their 17th win in 22 games and will enjoy their day off Thursday in first in the American League Central.
Making his fourth start, Dunning lowered his ERA to 2.70 by allowing three hits and one walk. He struck out three and got 10 ground balls. He threw 78 pitches, 51 for strikes.
“Big game for us,” manager Rick Renteria said. “We needed a bounce-back after yesterday. Dane set the tone, commanded the zone and kept them at bay. He was extremely efficient.”
McCann also lifted a sacrifice fly between his pair of jacks on off-speed pitches in his first three plate appearances, driving in four runs against Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker.
With an infield single, Jose Abreu extended his hitting streak to a career-high 22 games, the longest current streak in the majors and the eighth-longest in Sox history. The streak is six shy of the club-record 28 set by Carlos Lee in 2004.
Third baseman Yoan Moncada doubled, singled, scored a run, drove in a run and made a brilliant bare-handed, charging play in the field.
Rookie second baseman Nick Madrigal drove in two runs with a two-strike, two-out single that increased the lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning, a night after he doubled twice but ran into outs after each one in a 5-4 loss to the Pirates. Madrigal (1-for-4) is batting .380.
Dunning earned his first career win after three no-decisions.
“[Dunning is] a confident young man, kind of thrust into a pennant race, and he’s done a real nice job,” Renteria said.
“His pitchability sticks out,” McCann said. “He has four pitches, uses both sides of the plate, and he’s composed beyond his years. It’s fun catching a kid like that who doesn’t let the game speed up on him.
“Ten years ago, everyone threw a sinker. Now everyone throws a four-seamer. He can do both. I’m impressed with how he can throw both of them anytime. He’s going to be an integral part of our rotation the rest of this month and probably for years.”
Starting Friday, the Sox play 17 games in 17 days looking to nail down their first playoff appearance since 2008. For many on the roster, including Abreu and shortstop Tim Anderson, this is first time they likely will finish above .500.
“I want to win,” Anderson said before the game. “You see the season has been going great. Obviously, we haven’t had a season like this since I got here. We need those 17 games. You best believe I will be ready for those 17 games. The biggest key is to be ready to play. We need every guy from top to bottom to be able to play and come out with a whole lot of energy, and hopefully we can click at all angles going into this stretch.
“We’re trying to win this thing, trying to win the whole thing. Why not?”
“The talent is very good,” McCann said. “You’ve seen maturity from [Anderson], Moncada and Eloy [Jimenez] growing up, and you mix in the veteran guys, building that culture here, it’s a special thing to be a part of.”