'Explosive' Royals punk White Sox bullpen yet again

During the ninth inning of Tuesday's game between the White Sox and the Kansas City Royals at Rate Field, Sox announcer John Schriffen called the Kansas City offense "explosive."

John, my man, I hate to tell you this, but the Royals rank 14th out of 15 American League teams in runs scored this season. They are even below the Sox, who are 13th in the league. Kansas City is on the outside of the playoff picture right now because its offense has been among the worst in baseball.

Sure, the Royals punked the Sox again on Tuesday night, scoring two runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth to erase a four-run deficit and beat the South Siders, 5-4.

But I'm sorry, this is not a good Kansas City offense. It's a bad Chicago bullpen, plain and simple.

The Royals had no answers for Sox journeyman lefty Martin Perez, who allowed no runs on one hit and walked nobody over the first seven innings of this game.

He left the mound with a 4-0 lead and probably thought he had victory in the bag. Alas, Jordan Leasure, Grant Taylor and Tyler Alexander combined to light the game on fire.

Leasure gave up two runs in the eighth. Taylor (0-4) gave up three hits in the ninth to load the bases, and then Alexander surrendered two hits that allowed all the inherited runners to score. 5-4 Royals. Ballgame.

Colson Montgomery homered for the fourth consecutive game for the Sox. I guess that's nice. He now has 14 for the season and has a chance to end up as the team leader. He's three homers behind Lenyn Sosa.

Luis Robert Jr. left the game with a left hamstring strain. He's hasn't been on the injured list since July, so he's about due to be sidelined.

The Sox are 48-84. 

White Sox trounce Royals in series opener

Maybe a different venue is all it takes? Consider these numbers:

• White Sox record vs. Royals at Kansas City: 0-7
• White Sox record vs. Royals at Rate Field: 3-1
• White Sox runs scored vs. Royals in three games Aug. 15-17: 5
• White Sox runs scored vs. Royals in the first four innings Monday: 6

The Sox were ready for Kansas City left-hander Noah Cameron (7-6) on Monday night at Rate Field, scoring three runs in the first inning and three more in the fourth. The early offense led to an easy 7-0 victory.

After Chase Meidroth started the bottom of the first with a single, the Sox stacked up three run-scoring doubles by Edgar Quero, Lenyn Sosa and Curtis Mead to take a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, the Sox hit back-to-back homers. Korey Lee's two-run shot made it 5-0. Brooks Baldwin followed with a solo blast.

But perhaps the story of this game was starting pitcher Shane Smith (4-7), who needed only 80 pitches to complete seven innings of shutout ball. Smith struck out three, walked one and allowed just one hit. He threw 54 of his 80 pitches for strikes. 

After a midseason malaise, the rookie right-hander looks rejuvenated since coming off the injured list on Aug. 1. In five starts this month, Smith is 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA. He's got 24 strikeouts against 11 walks across 27.1 innings pitched. He's allowed only 16 hits, which means he's only allowing one batter to reach base per inning over that span. 

That's what you're looking for from a starting pitcher.

Tyler Gilbert pitched two innings of scoreless relief to finish off a combined two-hitter in Monday's game.

The Sox are 48-83. 

Sometimes all you can do is laugh ...

The White Sox scored 23 runs in the first two games of their series against the Atlanta Braves.

On Wednesday, they lost 1-0, reverting to form.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh at the ineptitude. That's 33 games this season where the Sox have scored one run or less. 

Boring and unwatchable. I couldn't make it through the game without changing the channel. 

I keep hearing people say "at least they are better than last year." Sure, they have 45 wins with just over five weeks left in the season, after winning just 41 games in 2024.

Thing is, the 2024 Sox were literally the worst team in MLB history. Everyone, LITERALLY EVERYONE, is better than the 2024 Sox. 

Thus, whatever improvements the 2025 Sox have made don't deserve celebration.

I made it to 42 years old before witnessing the Sox losing 100 games in a season. Now, it's common. The bar has been lowered. 

Stop applauding mundane things. This season is yet another disaster.

Can't anybody in Atlanta pitch?

During their three-game weekend series in Kansas City, the White Sox got swept because they had trouble scoring runs. In fact, they touched home plate only five times total in the series.

Now that the scene has shifted to Atlanta, the Sox bats have suddenly come to life. They've scored 23 runs in the first two games against the Braves.

That's good; that's great.

The problem is, that offensive explosion has only resulted in a 1-1 record. After winning 13-9 on Monday night, the Sox blew a six-run lead Tuesday, losing 11-10 to the Braves.

It wasn't starter Shane Smith's fault. Sure, he was mediocre over six innings pitched, allowing four runs on seven hits. But when Smith recorded the final out of the bottom of the sixth inning, he walked off the mound with a 10-4 lead.

You would think the bullpen could cover the remaining nine outs, but you would be wrong. Sox relief pitching blew this with a remarkable quickness, giving up five runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth.

The Braves didn't even need to bat in the bottom of the ninth after trailing by six in the seventh. Pretty embarrassing for the Sox.

There were some highlights for the position players. Kyle Teel was 2 for 5 with four RBIs, a two-run double and a two-run homer included. Luis Robert Jr. had a two-out, three-run double that capped a five-run outburst in the fifth inning. Miguel Vargas was 2 for 4 with three runs scored and an RBI.

Some moral victories there, but the Sox bullpen appears to be running on fumes. There have just been too many innings to cover, with starting pitchers failing to work past five innings in too many games.

The front office realizes it, and they've been churning the bullpen to try to keep fresh arms available. One night after getting shelled for four runs in one-third of an inning, Owen White was placed on the injured list with a hip impingement, and Elvis Peguero was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.

Alas, Peguero -- along with Tyler Gilbert -- was one of the culprits in surrendering the five-run seventh inning. Peguero issued two walks and retired only one of the four batters he faced.

Tyler Alexander (4-11) and Steven Wilson combined to surrender the lead in the eighth, with Alexander earning the loss and Wilson earning the blown save.

The Sox are 45-81. Unfortunately, there are 36 games left to play in this miserable season, which is now a near-lock to end with 100-plus losses. The pitching staff still has another 300-plus innings to cover. It's going to be ugly. 

White Sox option Sean Burke to Triple-A Charlotte

In a somewhat surprising move, the White Sox optioned starting pitcher Sean Burke to Triple-A Charlotte on Monday.

Burke, who was the team's Opening Day starter, has had an up-and-down season, going 4-10 with a 4.28 ERA. The 25-year-old right-hander has appeared in 24 games (20 starts), and he's pitched a team-leading and career-high 117.2 innings.

And Burke has struck out 110 batters across those innings. That's the good part. He has shown some ability to miss bats. However, he might be hitting a bit of a wall during these dog days of August. 

On paper, his last five starts aren't that bad -- a 3.92 ERA with 30 strikeouts over 20.2 innings. But that last number -- the innings -- is the sore spot. Burke is barely averaging four innings per start over this stretch. 

In his previous two outings, he needed 88 pitches to get through 3.1 innings against Cleveland. He needed 85 pitches to get through 3.2 innings Saturday against Kansas City. That's taxing a Sox bullpen that has been struggling.

It's not a great sign that both Burke and Jonathan Cannon have been optioned to Charlotte in recent days. No doubt the Sox were hoping one (or both) of them would have a breakout season and solidify a rotation spot for 2026. Neither man has done that.

Martin Perez is back off the injured list, and he'll rejoin the rotation when he starts Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves. Perez and Aaron Civale make up the veteran part of the starting staff. 

Shane Smith has looked much better since recently coming off the injured list, and Davis Martin threw six innings of shutout ball in a no-decision Sunday in Kansas City.

So, four of the rotation spots are still covered, despite the struggles of Burke and Cannon. Apparently, the Sox want to take a look at righty Yoendrys Gomez, who had a strong five-inning start with seven strikeouts against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 12.

Gomez pitched Monday's game against the Atlanta Braves, as well, and he picked up his second consecutive victory as the Sox beat Atlanta, 13-9.

The Sox were ahead 10-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, so Gomez (3-1) was once again effective through five. Alas, he gave up three runs in the sixth, and that made his final line look mediocre -- four runs on seven hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.

The 13 runs and 19 hits were season highs for the Sox. Brooks Baldwin, Luis Robert Jr., Lenyn Sosa and Kyle Teel all homered for the Sox. 

For Sosa, it was his third homer in the four games on the current road trip. He now leads the team with 17 home runs. Teel and Andrew Benintendi each had four-hit games. 

The Sox are now 45-80.