WHITE SOX HEADLINES of APRIL 4, 2018 “Avisail
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WHITE SOX HEADLINES OF APRIL 4, 2018 “Avisail Garcia crushed the longest home run of the season and it nearly ended up in a hotel room”…Eric Chesterton, MLB.com “Avisail Garcia crushes longest HR of season”… Keegan Matheson, MLB.com “White Sox three homers not enough vs. Jays”… Keegan Matheson, MLB.com “The White Sox are down to .500, but they keep crushing homers”… Vinnie Duber, NBC Sports Chicago “After busting out the boomstick vs. White Sox, should Josh Donaldson be fans' new man crush for 2019?”… Vinnie Duber, NBC Sports Chicago “The story behind White Sox coach Daryl Boston’s whistle and Josh Donaldson’s reaction”…Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune “Challenge of developing 'a lot of good arms' drives Welington Castillo”…Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune “White Sox on AL-best homer surge, but Rick Renteria wants well-rounded offense”…Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune “By the Numbers: White Sox look like a rebuilding club for the first time in 2018”…James Fegan, The Athletic Avisail Garcia crushed the longest home run of the season and it nearly ended up in a hotel room By Eric Chesterton / MLB.com/ April 3, 2018 When you stay in a hotel room, you expect a certain level of privacy. Sure, the kids in the room above you may be jumping up and down in vacation-induced joy all night, but, thanks to that "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the door, at least no one is going to barge in. On Tuesday night, White Sox right fielder Avisail Garcia visited the Blue Jays and nearly shattered that assumption of privacy when he sent a 481-foot home run that came just inches away from potentially disturbing some guests at the Rogers Centre hotel: Clearly, that dinger went a long way. It went so far that it was both the longest homer of the young 2018 season and the longest White Sox home run since 2015. White Sox manager Rick Renteria summed it up well. "Anybody who is a fan of baseball must have been impressed by that," he told MLB.com's Keegan Matheson. Next time Garcia's in town, Rogers Centre guests would do well to affix their "Do Not Disturb" signs to their windows, just to be safe. Avisail Garcia crushes longest HR of season By Keegan Matheson /MLB.com / April 3, 2018 TORONTO -- Avisail Garcia took the lead for the longest home run hit in the Majors this season, when he sent a towering shot off the facing of the fourth deck in Toronto on Tuesday night in Chicago's 14-5 loss. Garcia's 481-foot home run was measured by Statcast™ at 116.7 mph off the bat with a launch angle of 27 degrees. Only eight home runs travelled farther last season. "That was a well-struck ball," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "I don't think I've seen one struck as well as that." This is also the longest home run hit by a member of the Chicago White Sox since Statcast™'s introduction in 2015. "It was a pretty impressive blast, just from standing in the dugout and watching it," Renteria added. "Anybody who is a fan of baseball must have been impressed by that shot." The pitch from Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ was an 85.9 mph slider that caught far too much of the plate, and Garcia got all of it. The right fielder singled in his first at-bat of the night and struck out swinging in his second. White Sox three homers not enough vs. Jays By Keegan Matheson /MLB.com/ April 2, 2018 TORONTO -- The White Sox could not keep pace with the Blue Jays and their relentless offense on Tuesday night in Toronto. Chicago kept things close through the middle innings, but its bullpen allowed the floodgates to open in a seven-run eighth inning that capped the 14-5 loss. White Sox pitchers combined to allow 15 hits, 10 of which went for extra bases. View Full Game Coverage "We kept chipping away the whole ball game," said White Sox manager Rick Renteria, who was happy with the effort his team showed late despite the deficit. "We just weren't able to contend today. The pitching had a little bit of a difficult time today. Other than that, I thought we still battled." Starter Miguel Gonzalez allowed five earned runs over five innings in his first start of the season, including eight hits, two walks and four strikeouts. Two of those hits left the park for home runs as the veteran right-hander caught the middle of the plate too often. "A couple of bad pitches, I left them up," Gonzalez said. "They're good hitters, they capitalize on mistakes. I just need to do a better job next time." Tim Anderson was a bright spot for the White Sox with a home run, two singles and three runs scored. Anderson also stole second and third base in the same sequence, moving him to 28-for-31 on stolen- base attempts in his young career. Renteria believes that the White Sox will need more all-around offensive performances like Anderson's to succeed this season, especially against stronger pitching when the team cannot rely solely on the long ball. "We have to be able to generate run-scoring opportunities and executions through runners on third, advancing runners, things of that nature," Renteria said. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED No stopping Diaz: The White Sox had no answer for Blue Jays shortstop Aledmys Diaz, who left the game late with back spasms. Before his departure, Diaz homered, doubled, and singled. His three RBIs and two runs from the No. 9 spot helped to turn Toronto's lineup over and kept Chicago from regaining any momentum through the middle innings. "The story of the day was that their offense was pretty good," Renteria said. "You've got to tip your cap to them, they continued to grind." Donaldson does it again: If it were up to Josh Donaldson, the White Sox would stay in town for a couple more games after Wednesday's finale. Donaldson's two-run home run in the fourth inning was his second of the season, and marked the fifth consecutive game that he's homered against the White Sox. According to Statcast™, Donaldson's shot on Tuesday was measured at 360 feet and the ball left his bat at 94.7 mph. SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS In the bottom of the fourth inning, the White Sox surrendered a single, double and triple in order before Donaldson's home run capped off the team's single-inning cycle. GARCIA BLASTS OFF Avisail Garcia now owns the farthest home run hit in the Majors this season after his 481-foot blast in the fifth inning. Only eight home runs were measured farther in the entire 2017 season, and it is the farthest hit by a White Sox player since Statcast™ was introduced in 2015. Renteria couldn't recall seeing a home run struck as well as Garcia's in person. "It was a pretty impressive blast," Renteria said, "just from standing in the dugout and watching it. Anybody who is a fan of baseball must have been impressed by that shot." FOUR STARS FOR ENGEL Adam Engel made a four-star catch in the third inning on a Curtis Granderson fly ball to the gap. Engel raced over to make it look easy, but the ball had a catch probability of just 41 percent. He covered 68 feet in 4.1 seconds to make the play. WHAT'S NEXT Carson Fulmer will take the mound for the series finale in Toronto at 6:07 p.m. CT today, marking his sixth Major League start. Fulmer posted a 3.86 ERA over 23 1/3 innings with the White Sox last season, but will need to find the plate early as he's walked 4.6 batters per nine innings in his Minor League career. The White Sox are down to .500, but they keep crushing homers By Vinnie Duber /NBC Sports Chicago / April 3, 2018 The White Sox saw their dreams of going 162-0 dashed Monday. One night later, they fell to .500 and found themselves on the brink of a three-game sweep against the Toronto Blue Jays. But in this still-nascent season, the South Siders are just crushing the ball. The White Sox bashed three more home runs in Tuesday night's 14-5 loss to the Blue Jays, bringing their season total to 12 in just four games. Tim Anderson, Avisail Garcia and Yolmer Sanchez did the honors Tuesday, a night after Welington Castillo had a two-homer game in the series-opener. Anderson's fourth-inning blast helped score the shortstop a bit of redemption after he made his first error of the season and allowed a run to score in the bottom of the third. Sanchez lifted a ball to the second deck to bring the White Sox within two in the eighth. But the highlight of the night for the visitors was Garcia's shot in the fifth, a 481-foot bomb that went down as the longest homer of the season in baseball and the longest for a White Sox hitter since Statcast started keeping track of such things in 2015. Coming into Tuesday night, only the Colorado Rockies had more homers than the White Sox, with 10. But when it's come to hitting the ball out of the park, what a rip-roaring start for the South Siders, who ranked just 24th in homers in 2017.