Clips for 7-12-10

MEDIA CLIPS – July 9, 2017 Rodon, Freeland to close out series, first half By Max Gelman / MLB.com | 5:37 AM ET The Rockies and White Sox close out the first half of the season with the finale of this Interleague series today. Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu and Greg Holland will represent the Rockies in Miami in Tuesday's All-Star Game presented by Mastercard. The White Sox will send Avisail Garcia. Left-hander Kyle Freeland will take the mound Sunday for the Rockies in his final first-half tuneup. Freeland is coming off one of his worst starts of the season, in which he gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings and received an extended solo mound visit from manager Bud Black. Freeland has made three Interleague starts and is 3-0 with a 2.95 ERA in those. White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon will make his third start of the season and face the Rockies for the first time. Rodon began 2017 on the DL with left biceps bursitis and was activated June 27. In his previous outing vs. the Athletics, Rodon struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings. Things to know about this game • Garcia did not start Friday or Saturday's contests because of a sprained right middle finger, but is expected to return to the lineup for the finale. In 77 games, Garcia is hitting .313/.356/.502 with 11 home runs and 40 runs scored. • No active Rockies have had an at-bat against Rodon, but that doesn't mean they haven't faced him. First baseman Mark Reynolds has two plate appearances against the 24-year-old and walked both times. • The White Sox pitching staff is on pace for 597 walks, which would be its most in one season since 2000 (614). 1 Rox tie game in 8th, but fall to Chicago in 9th By Fabian Ardaya and Max Gelman / MLB.com | 1:57 AM ET DENVER -- Tim Anderson spoiled the Rockies' hopes for a comeback, as the 24-year-old shortstop crushed a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth to give the White Sox a 5-4 win over the Rockies at Coors Field on Saturday night. Anderson's homer was the second-longest of his career at 444 feet; he hit his longest in Friday's opener. Greg Holland, the Rockies' All-Star closer who leads MLB with 28 saves, came in to a 4-4 game shortly after Gerardo Parra hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to cap off the Rockies' rally. Anderson led off the frame by taking Holland deep, going to nearly the same spot he went to in center on Friday night -- a homer that went a Statcast-projected 451 feet -- to give the White Sox the lead again before David Robertsonclosed it out for his 13th save. "I never got off the heater," Anderson said of the homer off Holland. "I had a feeling he was going to try to challenge me with a heater in. They had been kind of coming in all game, so I just never got off the heater." Jose Quintana, who's received the 10th-lowest average run support in the American League at 4.17, wasn't his dominant self of seasons past, but was able to keep the Rockies in check, giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings. Chicago scored three runs in the first inning off of Rockies starter Jeff Hoffman. Colorado has only won two games this season after trailing by three or more runs. "Jeff hung in there. Wasn't at his best, but I really liked the fact that he hung in there and went seven innings without really having his best stuff and maybe his best command," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "I told him after the game I thought his last 30 pitches were his best out of the 90-plus." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Rey of sunshine: Things had been looking bleak for the Rockies in the late innings, as they couldn't seem to figure out Quintana or the White Sox bullpen. But Mark Reynolds led off the eighth with a triple that rolled away from right fielder Alen Hanson. It was Reynolds' first triple in exactly two years, with his last three-bagger coming July 8, 2015, as a Cardinal. Additionally, Reynolds' average sprint speed per Statcast™ is 25.9 feet per second (the average MLB sprint speed is 27 feet per second). On tonight's triple, he was clocked at 26.6 feet per second. Defensive star in the making: Adam Engel's play in center field has been impressive for the White Sox since he made his Major League debut on May 27. He showed off his speed and range with Chicago up, 4-2, in the fifth inning, taking away extra bases from Tony Wolters by traveling 85 feet in 4.7 seconds for a four-star catch, according to Statcast™. 2 The ball was his second four-star catch of the night, with his running catch on DJ LeMahieu's liner in the first inning having a catch probability of 49 percent; the Wolters ball had a 36 percent catch probability. Since he made his debut, Engel is the only White Sox outfielder with a catch that was awarded a three-star rating or higher by Statcast™. He now has three. QUOTABLE "I don't think about that right now. I'm focusing on doing my job. The first half has ended for me now and I'm focused on the second half. Try to do a better job and recover my body. I know that the trades are around me but that's part of the game. I don't have control in that. I just have control on throwing the ball well." -- Quintana, on the possibility that this was his last start with Chicago SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS The White Sox feasted on extra-base hits early on, as Jose Abreu, Yolmer Sanchez and Willy Garcia combined to knock three triples in the first four innings of the game. It marked the first time Chicago recorded at least three triples in a game since recording five at home against Cleveland on Aug. 16, 2011. Sanchez's two-run triple Quintana became the first White Sox pitcher to record 10 or more strikeouts and pick up an RBI since Bart Johnson on Sept. 17, 1971. "Really excited," Quintana said of his fourth-inning sacrifice fly that made it 4-2. "My first RBI. I try to get contact first. It was really good. The guy throws hard. It was good, it was fun." More > INTENTIONALLY SHREWD The Rockies knocked Quintana out in the sixth following an RBI double by Parra and had a chance for more against Anthony Swarzak. The White Sox reliever has been adept at holding inherited runners, and proved capable again. Swarzak struck out Trevor Story with two fastballs on the black and, after Raimel Tapia was intentionally walked to load the bases, Swarzak induced a weak groundout from Wolters to end the inning. Swarzak has not allowed an earned run since June 18 and has stranded 19-of-26 inherited runners this season. "Last year, I remember throwing [Story] some good sliders and him taking me to right field on them," Swarzak said of striking out Story. "I knew I wasn't going to let him get to me again, so in that at-bat I wanted to just stay hard on him. I executed down and away, kind of locked him up."apes bases-loaded jam 3 "That was a tough one. Would've been nice late in the game," Black said. "We got to Quintana, they made a pitching change, we sorta had the momentum back on our side. That's a tough one." EJECTED With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Charlie Blackmon struck out looking and erupted in anger. Plate umpire Sam Holbrook rung Blackmon up on a slider on the outside part of the plate, and Blackmon immediately objected. Holbrook ejected him after a few words, and Blackmon spiked his helmet and bat on the ground. Black came out to defend his player and was ejected as well. WHAT'S NEXT White Sox: Carlos Rodon (1-1, 1.59 ERA) takes the White Sox into the All-Star break in the last of a three-game set Sunday afternoon. He's fresh off his first win of the season after missing most of the first three months with left biceps bursitis. First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. CT. Rockies: LHP Kyle Freeland (8-7, 4.09) closes out the Interleague series for the Rockies on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. MT. Freeland has already made three Interleague starts in his young career, winning all three with a 2.95 ERA. But Freeland's coming off one of his worst outings this season, giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings vs. the Reds last Tuesday. 4 Holland has rare miscue in loss to White Sox Rockies' reliable closer surrenders homer in ninth inning By Fabian Ardaya and Max Gelman / MLB.com | 1:57 AM ET DENVER -- Greg Holland has been so automatic this season that a hiccup is seemingly out of the question. But Holland, whose 28 saves lead the Major Leagues, served up a middle-middle fastball to Tim Anderson leading off the ninth in Saturday's 5-4 loss to the White Sox, negating the Rockies' eighth-inning rally.

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