White Sox knock Red Sox out of first place

Chris Sale

The Boston Red Sox entered this weekend with a 22-9 record at home, and they led the AL East by a half-game over the New York Yankees.

Boston is now 23-11 at home, and a half-game behind the Yankees, after it inexplicably lost two out of three to the White Sox over the weekend. The Red Sox were throwing their three most accomplished pitchers -- Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello -- against the White Sox, which makes the Chicago victory all the more shocking.

Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, June 8
White Sox 1, Red Sox 0: At the start of the season, Dylan Covey (2-1) wasn't on the Sox's 40-man roster. Now, he's won a pitchers' duel against Sale.

Sale did what you would expect: He went eight innings, allowing one run on six hits with 10 strikeouts and only one walk.

Covey did what you wouldn't expect: He tossed six shutout innings, allowing only three hits and one walk while striking out seven. Really, Covey has the same sinker-slider arsenal he had last season when he went 0-7. The difference this year? His fastball is sitting at 93 to 95 mph, instead of 91 to 93. Remarkable that he's had a bit of a velocity jump in his age-26 season.

The Sox's lone run came in the seventh, when Trayce Thompson singled over a drawn-in infield to score Kevan Smith, who hit a bloop ground-rule double earlier in the inning.

Three Sox relievers combined for three scoreless, hitless innings, with Joakim Soria earning his seventh save of the season.

Saturday, June 9
Red Sox 4, White Sox 2: Three Sox errors cost Carlos Rodon two runs in his first start of the season, and that turned out to be the difference in the game.

Rodon's stuff looked better as his outing moved along. He got himself into a first-and-third, no-outs jam in the bottom of the fourth inning, but he struck out Blake Swihart, Jackie Bradley and Andrew Benintendi in succession to escape trouble.

He finished with seven strikeouts and two walks, while allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits over five innings. Alas, two of the six hits were homers -- one by Bradley and the other by J.D. Martinez, and that combined with the errors led to the Sox's demise.

The South Siders scored two runs in the first inning off Price, but the Boston left-hander put up five zeroes after that, and the Red Sox bullpen tossed three innings of scoreless relief.

Sunday, June 10
White Sox 5, Red Sox 2: Tim Anderson had no hits in this game, but his play was one of the biggest factors in the outcome.

The Sox's shortstop worked a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the top of the third inning to put his team ahead for good at 2-1. He saved a run with his glove by ranging deep in the hole to take away a hit from Xander Bogaerts in the fifth. He worked a leadoff walk in the sixth inning, and later scored from second base on a groundout by Thompson, after Porcello tripped while cover first base on the play.

Three big plays by Anderson, two that created runs for the Sox, and one that took away a run from Boston.

Reynaldo Lopez (2-4) picked up the win for the Sox. He pitched 6.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits. He struck out six and walked three.

Jace Fry recorded four outs out of the Sox bullpen, including one with the bases loaded in the seventh and the Sox clinging to the a 3-2 lead.

Daniel Palka's two-out, two-run double in the top of the ninth provided some breathing room, and Soria pitched the bottom half of the inning for his eighth save.