The Miguel Gonzalez gamble fails; White Sox offense rallies

Former Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd gave up Toronto's lead Monday.

Miguel Gonzalez did not distinguish himself Monday in his first start in a White Sox uniform. His fastball velocity was decent enough -- 90-91 mph -- but his command was not precise.

And a pitcher without overwhelming stuff can't afford to be imprecise against the powerful Toronto batting order.

The Blue Jays No. 2 through No. 6 hitters -- Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Saunders -- went a combined 7 for 13 with a home run, three doubles and five runs scored against Gonzalez.

Gonzalez lasted 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on 11 hits. He struck out six and walked two. The Sox trailed 5-1 after six innings, and the Blue Jays had their ace, Marcus Stroman, on the mound.

Game over, right?

Well, maybe it would have been over last year. Not this year. The Sox rallied for five runs in the seventh inning, all after two were out, and ended up beating Toronto, 7-5. It was probably the most satisfying win of the Sox's 14-6 start. 

Stroman left with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning, still leading 5-1. But Toronto lefty Brett Cecil could not get anybody out. Adam Eaton singled up the middle on a 1-2 pitch to drive in two runs and bring the Sox within 5-3. Jimmy Rollins followed with an RBI single to make it 5-4, and then the Blue Jays tried to coax Jose Abreu to get himself out by swinging at bad pitches.

Abreu is in a terrible slump. He has been swinging at sliders in the dirt routinely as of late, but this time he laid off Cecil's low breaking pitches and took a walk to reload the bases.

The Blue Jays then summoned former Sox right-hander Gavin Floyd to face Todd Frazier. I have to say, Toronto is unlikely to defend its AL East title this year if it doesn't have anybody better than Floyd to bring in with the bases loaded, two outs and a one-run lead in the seventh inning.

Frazier got a 0-1 cut fastball and lined it down the left-field line for a two-run double that put the Sox ahead to stay at 6-5. The South Siders added an insurance run in the ninth, and the bullpen did the rest.

Zach Putnam, Dan Jennings, Matt Albers and David Robertson combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. Robertson converted his eighth save in nine chances. Albers is unscored upon in his last 30 appearances, breaking the previous team record of 29 -- set by reliever Jesse Crain in 2013.

Useless stat of the day: The White Sox have scored 17 of their 68 runs this season in the seventh inning. Go figure.

Getting back to Gonzalez, we'll see if the Sox give him another shot. We were told velocity was the reason the Baltimore Orioles let him go after spring training, but it seemed like command was a bigger problem for him Monday than velocity. Did Sox brass see enough to believe he might be a better fifth starter option than John Danks?