RANGERS 7, SOX 6
South Side ripped men
Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert hit their first home runs of the spring and Yoan Moncada had his first two hits (singles) and stolen base of the spring. Non-roster invitee outfielder Jaycob Brugman hit a 436-foot homer to right. NRI righty Bryan Mitchell allowed a walk-off homer to Blake Swihart.
Luis Robert’s 113-mph tracer
Robert lined a home run to left center against righty Juan Nicasio that, off the bat, looked too low to carry the fence. But it left the yard at 113 mph for the center fielder’s first homer of the spring.
“When he puts the barrel on the baseball, it pretty much jumps off that bat as well as anybody,” manager Rick Renteria said.
Robert also singled against Jonathan Hernandez in the second and stole second base, then made the third out trying to scamper back after rounding too far and slipping on the grass.
There was a nice moment of outfield communication between Robert, the fleet rookie in center, and Jimenez in left. Robert ran a long way from right center, called off Jimenez and caught Joey Gallo’s fly ball near the warning track in left center.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Luis Robert hits a tracer. 113 mph exit velo <a href=”https://t.co/JWuVwodSig”>pic.twitter.com/JWuVwodSig</a></p>— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/1233865413441679360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 29, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8”></script>
Eloy’s first oppo taco
Jimenez connected for his first homer of the spring, swatting the first pitch he saw from Hernandez to right center. Jimenez hit nine of his 31 homers as a rookie last season in September and said “why not?” when asked if 50 is possible in 2020.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Eloy Jimenez takes Jonathan Hernandez the other way for first home run of spring. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhiteSox?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WhiteSox</a> <a href=”https://t.co/4tYJ06mEMj”>pic.twitter.com/4tYJ06mEMj</a></p>— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/1233853592324329472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 29, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8”></script>
In the pen
Lefty Adalberto Mejia retired all four batters he faced with three strikeouts. Carson Fulmer retired all five he faced with two strikeouts. Jose Ruiz gave up two runs on three hits but struck out two in one inning.
ON DECK
Sox at Angels, Tempe, 2:05 p.m., Sunday, Ross Detwiler vs. Patrick Sandoval
