White Sox off to 4-1 start on seven-game homestand

Melky Cabrera

Back to blogging after a holiday weekend. I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day, and it was a weekend that featured some good baseball from the White Sox.

The Sox are 4-1 through five games on their current seven-game homestand. They took three out of four from the Detroit Tigers, winning Friday and Sunday and splitting a straight doubleheader Saturday.

But I'd say the most surprising and rewarding win of the weekend was Monday's 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series.

The doubleheader and the injury to Dylan Covey created some chaos for the Sox's starting rotation, and left-handed reliever David Holmberg was pulled out of the bullpen to make a spot start. His mound opponent was former AL Cy Young Award winner David Price, and while Price was making his first start of the season after being on the disabled list, this was not a matchup that was favorable for the Sox.

However, Holmberg provided four credible innings. He allowed only one run through the first three before giving up two in the fourth, but you can hardly blame him if he ran out of gas. He isn't stretched out to be a starter. Still, the game was tied 3-3 after those four innings -- Melky Cabrera his a three-run homer for the Sox in the third -- and I don't think we are in any position to complain about Holmberg keeping things even against Price.

The Boston left-hander was on a 90-pitch limit, so the game was destined to come down to bullpens -- a battle that the Sox won.

Mookie Betts hit a home run off Gregory Infante in the top of the fifth, but that was the only run the Red Sox got against four Sox relievers.

The South Siders rallied from a 4-3 deficit with two runs in the bottom of the seventh off Boston's Matt Barnes. Yolmer Sanchez hit a leadoff triple and scored on a double by Kevan Smith. Two outs later, Cabrera added his fourth RBI of the day on a softly hit single up the middle that scored Smith with the go-ahead run.

Tommy Kahnle pitched a scoreless eighth, and David Robertson got three outs in the ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.

The task gets harder Tuesday for the Sox, as Boston will start Chris Sale, who still is the best pitcher in the American League. The Sox already have clinched a winning homestand, but it would be a real success if they can steal one of the next two games against the Red Sox and finish up 5-2.