It's too cold to hit. Boo hoo hoo.
Or maybe the White Sox were just due to lose after their surprising three-game sweep of the defending American League champion Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend.
The Sox outscored Toronto 14-7 in their three weekend victories, but they were limited to only four hits Monday in a 2-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Rate Field.
(Sidebar: The Blue Jays lost 14-2 to the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, so perhaps Toronto is in a slump right now.)
One trend that's emerging for the Sox: the use of Grant Taylor as an opener. The right-hander has started three of the four games on the homestand, working a scoreless first inning each time.
In his two starts against Toronto, Taylor needed only nine pitches to get three outs both times. On Monday, he worked around a leadoff double by Baltimore's Taylor Ward.
If it isn't broke, don't fix it? Or maybe give Taylor two innings, if he's efficient in his first inning and the team thinks his future is as a starting pitcher.
Erick Fedde (0-2) pitched well over six innings on Monday, as well, allowing two runs. But that was enough to get him beat on a night when the Sox didn't do much of anything offensively.
Baltimore starter Brandon Young (1-0) was 1-7 with a 6.24 ERA in his previous 12 career starts, but he tossed five shutout innings against the Sox. He allowed only two hits and two walks, while striking out two.
It wasn't until the ninth inning that the Sox threatened. They scored their only run off Baltimore closer Ryan Helsley, who hung over for his third save of the season.
Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas worked back-to-back walks to start the ninth. They advanced to third on a groundout by Colson Montgomery. Pinch-hitter Lenyn Sosa grounded out, scoring Murakami for the lone Sox run of the game.
An infield single by Andrew Benintendi moved Vargas to third, but with two outs and runners at the corners. Helsely struck out Edgar Quero to end the game.
The Sox lost left fielder Austin Hays to a strained hamstring in the fourth inning. It's fair to expect a trip to the injured list and a roster move before Tuesday's game against Baltimore, which has been moved up to 2:10 p.m. because of the unseasonable cold in Chicago.
Not that it's going to be much warmer in the afternoon.
The Sox are 4-6.
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