This wasn’t a bad game through the first 5 1⁄2 innings. The White Sox offense was limited to a Yoán Moncada double through five, but it was a nicely-played five by both teams, for the most part.
In fact, it was more professionally played by the Sox than Seattle. The only time the Mariners had a serious threat was when Josimar Cousin, who had worked his way up to Birmingham last year, loaded the bases by walking two and hitting one of the first three batters he faced — but Cousin then got two strikeouts on nifty curves and induced a 3-2 bloop to right from Seby Zavala that would never, ever have been caught by the Sox last year — but this time Mike Moustakas was playing first.