Game Wrap 8/12/2014: White Sox 3 Giants 2

The Giants got off the mat to mount a 2-run, game-tying rally in the bottom of the 9'th inning after being dominated through the first 8 by Chris Sale, only to lose it in extra-innings.  Key Lines:

Joe Panik- 1 for 4.  BA= .255.  It doesn't look like much in the boxscore, but this kid gets good AB's!  He got one of just 4 hits off one of the toughest LHP's in the game and then in the 9'th hit a hard grounder up the middle with the bases loaded.  It should have been a 2 run, game-tying single, but Gordon Beckham made a diving stop and a sensational flip throw to Ramirez, the SS, who relayed the DP throw to 1B.  A run scored on the play, and Crawford drove in the tying run from 3B in the next AB, but had Panik's ball gone through, or even just been stopped by Beckham without the great flip throw, the Giants probably win the game.  But man!  Panik has a good eye at the plate and gets himself into hitter's counts.  He's not up there looking to take a walk either.  He's looking to get a pitch to hit, and he does.  IMO, the Giants need to just leave him at 2B and not look back.  He's got the position nailed down for the next 6 years!

Ryan Vogelsong- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 3.71.  Vogey allowed the same number of hits through 7 as Chris Sale.  The difference was that 2 of those hits came in the first inning and one of them was an opposite field HR to Adam Dunn who got one up in the jet-stream to left-CF.  It was Vogey's 3'rd QS in a row in which he has allowed just 4 ER in 22 IP.  Vogey is stating a case for being brought back again next season.

Chris Sale(White Sox)- 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K's.  ERA= 2.01.  The Giants right now struggle against good pitchers.  They don't struggle against elite pitchers.  They get shut down!  Tonight was no exception as they did not come close to mounting a rally against one of the best pitchers in the game, RHP or LHP.  I will say this, Sale has been doing it for awhile now, but that delivery looks painful and like an injury waiting to happen.  We'll see.  In the meantime, he's one of the elites in the game.

The Loss dropped the Giants 6 games behind the NL West leading Dodgers and you have to think at this point it's unlikely that a division championship is within reach.  They do remain 0.5 games behind the Cardinals in the race for the second Wild Card spot.

Jake Peavy goes against his former team with Jose Quintana, another LHP, on the mound for the ChiSox in an afternoon game that completes the 2 game interleague series.