Like many of our friends throughout the SB Nation network, we are simulating the 2020 MLB season with MLB The Show 20. While we are unable to stream the games as they would otherwise be happening, we will try to get ahead of the curve and post about the games on the same day they would have taken place. Or, you know, at least get them back on schedule. Now, onto the recap!
Outfielder Daz Cameron made his MLB debut for the simulated Detroit Tigers on Monday evening, but the BABIP gods were not on their side as they fell 6-3 to the Chicago White Sox. Cameron batted leadoff, but went 0-for-4 on the night.
While Cameron went 0-fer, he actually reached base in his first plate appearance. Catcher Yasmani Grandal could not handle Gio Gonzalez’s strikeout pitch — fun fact: it’s hard to hit in this game when someone is standing in front of the TV — and Cameron was able to reach first base before Grandal’s throw. But any hopes of an early rally against Gonzalez, who has already blanked the Tigers once this year, were snuffed out when Niko Goodrum grounded into a double play.
The White Sox wasted no time taking advantage of Detroit’s misfortune. Leury Garcia led off the bottom of the first with a single, and Tim Anderson took his place when he beat out a potential double play ball. With two outs in the inning, Anderson stole second base, then Eloy Jimenez poked a double into the right-center gap to plate Chicago’s first run of the night.
Jonathan Schoop quickly tied the score with a solo home run to right field in the second inning, but the rest of the Tigers offense was stifled again by Gonzalez. The veteran lefthander gave up some hard contact, but as has been the case previously against him, anything hit remotely hard was usually directed right at a White Sox defender. Dawel Lugo was robbed of extra bases twice by good defensive positioning, while Schoop nearly missed his second homer when he was just underneath a ball in the fifth. In fact, between Schoop’s second inning homer and a Christin Stewart walk in the fifth, Gonzalez set down nine Tigers in a row.
Meanwhile, the Sox spent most of this game playing with a lead. Edwin Encarnacion reached second base with no outs in the bottom of the second on a JaCoby Jones error, and Encarnacion just barely beat Jones’ throw home on a Danny Mendick sacrifice fly later in the frame, giving the Sox a 2-1 lead.
The Tigers threatened a couple times in the middle innings, but neither team scored again until the eighth. Leury Garcia led off the inning with a double, his third hit of the game, and Jimenez brought him in to score with a two-out single. Another hit brought Jimenez in, extending Chicago’s lead to 4-1, and spelled the end of Zimmermann’s evening. Things went from bad to worse, however, as Buck Farmer served up a two-run homer to Edwin Encarnacion before he recorded the final out of the eighth. C.J. Cron added a two-run shot of his own to make things a little more interesting in the ninth, but the damage was done as the Tigers fell to their fifth consecutive loss.
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