White Sox lose two of three to Cincinnati Reds; AL Central lead at 2 with 7 to play

Dylan Cease

White Sox pitchers Dylan Cease and Ross Detwiler combined to pitch one of the worst innings I've seen at the big-league level in a long, long time Sunday.

The Cincinnati Reds scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning -- on six walks, a hit batsmen and a ground ball that found its way through a shifted infield. Talk about gift-wrapping a game. The Reds went on to win 7-3 and took two out of three in the weekend series.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins took two out of three from the Cubs at Wrigley Field. That means the Sox's lead in the American League Central Division stands at two games with seven to play. Their magic number to clinch the division is four.

Probably the best thing to do would be to just go 4-3 in the remaining seven and not worry about the Twins, right? But the Sox will need to play better than they did this weekend. Let's take a look back at this series with the Reds:

Friday, Sept. 18

Reds 7, White Sox 1: Jonathan Stiever survived his first major-league start against the Detroit Tigers in decent shape, but he got lit up in his outing Friday against the Reds. He lasted only 2.2 innings and gave up six earned runs on five hits. He allowed four home runs, including three in a five-run third inning. 

Stiever had never pitched above High-A before this year, so struggles are to be expected. However, I'm a little concerned about his health. Reports last season had his fastball touching 95 or 96 mph. But after a forearm strain limited him in spring training during March, he doesn't seem to be back to that peak velocity. I'm seeing a lot of 91 and 92 mph fastballs.

The Sox managed only four hits Friday night, so it was a lackluster, day-after-clinching-the-playoffs sort of effort. One bright spot: 2020 first-round draft pick Garrett Crochet worked a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in his big-league debut. His fastball touched 101 mph and showed good life. 

Saturday, Sept. 19

White Sox 5, Reds 0: Stiever was optioned back to the alternate training site after his rough outing Friday, so that Dallas Keuchel could be activated from the 10-day injured list and make the start. 

It was a weird outing for Keuchel. He went four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, which is good, but he didn't get a single groundball out. Not what you normally see from the game's most extreme sinkerballer. Keuchel uncharacteristically walked three, too, but that could be chalked up to rust. At least he got up to 75 pitches. At least he got through the outing without a recurrence of his back problem, and he'll get one more start Thursday to tune up for the postseason.

The Sox hit five solo homers to win this one. Nomar Mazara hit his first dinger of the season in the fifth off Trevor Bauer. Tim Anderson also homered in the fifth. In the eighth, Anderson, Yasmani Grandal and Jose Abreu hit back-to-back-to-back homers off Robert Stephenson to put the game out of reach.

Four relievers cleaned up the last five innings after Keuchel left. Matt Foster (5-0) retired all six men he faced with two strikeouts to earn the victory.

Sunday, Sept. 20

Reds 7, White Sox 3: Cease, Detwiler and Steve Cishek combined to walk 11 batters and hit three others in this game -- and that was just the first five innings. Meanwhile, Sox batters struck out 14 times. It was so terrible to watch that I don't really want to talk about it.

It was 7-3, but it felt like 13-3. Let's just flush it down the toilet and move on.

Up next for the Sox: a four-game series in Cleveland starting Monday night. The Indians are five games out in the AL Central, so they are still in the hunt and looking to move up the standings. It should be a playoff-level series, and the hope is the Sox got all their bad play out of their system Sunday in Cincinnati.

White Sox manager Rick Renteria is burning up his bullpen unnecessarily

Rick Renteria

The White Sox entered Tuesday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 99.6% chance of qualifying for the postseason.

So why is manager Rick Renteria treating every game as if it is the seventh game of the World Series?

The Sox lost, 5-4, to the last-place Pirates, but the way they got there was more concerning than the loss itself. Was it really necessary to burn through five relief pitchers to try to win this game? Not in my world.

Starter Dylan Cease got a quick hook after throwing only 79 pitches. He took a 3-2 lead into the sixth inning, and he gave up a leadoff single. That would be all. Not sure why.

Codi Heuer, pitching for the third time in the past five days, was able to finish the inning without giving up the lead.

Enter Matt Foster, who worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Foster was pitching for "only" the third time in the past six days, so I thought he might have another inning in him.

Nah.

Renteria needed to go to Evan Marshall, who was pitching for the fourth time in the past five games, for the eighth inning. Marshall gave up two runs to surrender a 4-2 lead and couldn't finish the inning. Ross Detwiler entered and managed to strand the go-ahead run on third base.

But Detwiler gave up two singles to start the bottom of the ninth. Enter Jimmy Cordero, who has appeared NINE TIMES in the past 12 games. A passed ball, an intentional walk and an error later, the Sox were in the loss column.

Good thing Renteria pulled Cease early to make sure the Sox won this one, huh?

The Sox have played 42 games, and Cordero has already made 21 appearances. Marshall has pitched 20 times, and Steve Cishek has pitched 18 times. All three of these men have more appearances than they do innings pitched.

And that doesn't even get into the 40-pitch outing Alex Colome had in Friday's win over Kansas City. Colome was then asked to save the game Saturday night, too, which he did, but at some point he might wear out as well.

Would it kill Renteria to let guys pitch more than one inning? Would it kill him to let a young pitcher like Cease work his way out of his own trouble for once?

The Sox are in really good shape to make the playoffs. But will the bullpen have anything left for October with this kind of usage, or overusage, as the case may be?

Forget about October. Who is going to pitch in relief Wednesday? Probably at least one or two guys who pitched Tuesday night, and that's a problem.

It's time for Renteria to back off the throttle a little bit. He's got to stop micromanaging so much, even if it means losing a few more games.

White Sox extend winning streak to 5, but lose Carlos Rodon to injury

Carlos Rodon

Good news: The White Sox won their fifth consecutive game with a 6-4 victory over Milwaukee on Monday night.

The South Siders were trailing 4-2 after six innings, but they tied it when Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer on a 3-0 pitch from Corbin Burnes in the top of the seventh inning. The Sox went ahead 5-4 in the eighth when Leury Garcia scored on a wild pitch by David Phelps. Yoan Moncada homered in the ninth off Corey Knebel to make it 6-4, and Alex Colome got three outs in the ninth for his second save of the season.

Ross Detwiler went 1.1 innings with three strikeouts to earn the victory, and the veteran lefty has now worked 8.1 scoreless innings to start the season.

Sounds good, right?

Too bad Sox starter Carlos Rodon got hurt to dampen the mood. The lefty lasted only two innings because of a shoulder problem. His velocity was noticeably down in the second inning, topping out at only 88-89 mph. We know that when Rodon is right, he can fire it up there in the mid-90s. That hasn't been happening, and now he's on the 10-day injured list with left shoulder soreness.

This will further test the Sox's starting pitching depth. With Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez and Jimmy Lambert all injured and unlikely to return anytime soon -- and with Michael Kopech opted out of the 2020 season -- options are diminishing.

Maybe Detwiler will be taking Rodon's place in the rotation. Or maybe Dane Dunning will be recalled. And, hey, the Sox signed veteran lefty Clayton Richard to a minor league deal the other day.

That's where the team is at right now with the starting pitching, and it isn't pretty.

With Rodon headed to the injured list, the team purchased the contract of right-hander Brady Lail from the Schaumburg training facility. Lail, 26, has pitched one game in the major leagues in his life, last season with the New York Yankees. He gave up three earned runs in 2.2 innings before being designated for assignment.

In other words, don't expect much.

To make room for Lail on the 40-man roster. the Sox designated outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe for assignment. This will not be a popular move with the prospect-loving wing of the Sox fan base.

Basabe is the much ballyhooed "third piece" of the Chris Sale trade (behind Moncada and Kopech), and at one point in time, he looked like he could be a contributor for the Sox -- at least as an extra outfielder.

The reality is Basabe is soon to be 24 years old, he's never played above Double-A ball, and he's a career .248 hitter in the minors with only 44 home runs in nearly 600 games. I have no idea whether he'll be claimed on waivers -- I'm guessing yes -- but if he is, I don't envision losing a lot of sleep over it.

I do think there are other guys I would have parted with first, but if we're being honest, Basabe has never been healthy or particularly good since joining the Sox organization.

White Sox beat Cubs in perhaps most watched exhibition game ever

Adam Engel

So, the White Sox beat the Cubs, 7-3, at Wrigley Field on Sunday in the first exhibition game for both teams since baseball restarted amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The game drew a 3.93 rating on NBC Sports Chicago, the highest rating for a Sox game since September 2012 -- also known as the last time the Sox were in the pennant race.

I guess that goes to show how starved we are for baseball, right? My phone was blowing up during the game with texts from friends. I seem to become more popular when there's a ballgame on the air.

Hey, my friends have questions. Hopefully, I have answers.

And here are my three takeaways from Sunday's game:

1. It was nice to see the Sox slugging the ball around. The Sox had a punch-and-judy kind of offense in comparison to the rest of the league in 2019. They had a team slugging percentage of .414, which was 13th out of 15 teams in the American League. Only the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers -- two clubs who finished with more than 100 losses -- were worse.

But during a six-run fifth inning, the Sox totaled seven hits, five of them for extra-bases. Adam Engel homered off Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks. Tim Anderson and Jose Abreu singled, also off Hendricks, and the Cubs changed pitchers.

The first four batters against Jharel Cotton went as such:

• Two-run double for Yasmani Grandal
• RBI double for Edwin Encarnacion
• RBI double for Luis Robert
• RBI triple for Leury Garcia

Granted, the triple by Garcia was a bit of a misplay by Cubs center fielder Ian Happ, but every one of those four hits was stung. Good to see.

2. Carson Fulmer is still very bad. The Sox didn't use any pitchers that we'd expect to be on the Opening Day roster. We saw Drew Anderson, Ross Detwiler, Jimmy Lambert, Fulmer and Codi Heuer.

Unfortunately, Fulmer was the one who looked terrible. The former first-round draft pick entered with a 7-2 lead in the eighth inning and could not get three outs. He walked the bases loaded and gave up a run on an infield single. Heuer relieved and needed only one pitch to clean up the mess.

Lead preserved, win preserved, but it's hard to envision Fulmer ever carving a role in the major leagues at this point. He couldn't consistently throw strikes two years ago. He cannot consistently throw strikes today. Enough is enough.

3. Cherish every moment that we have with baseball. I mean, I can't really blame all the people who chose to spend their Sunday night watching a game that really didn't mean a thing.

Summer nights and baseball are cherished things for many of us. We're all crossing our fingers that this 60-game season and playoffs will be played out to its conclusion, but we don't really know what's going to happen with this virus and this godawful pandemic.

Basically, any time I have the chance to sit down and take in a ballgame, I'm going to do it. Even as Sunday's game dragged into the late innings and the regulars from both sides had finished their work for the evening, I continued to watch.

I'm doing that just in case the privilege of watching baseball goes away in the coming weeks. I pray it does not. It was good for the soul, and the fact that the Sox won, that's even better.

Remembering Ed Farmer (1949-2000), White Sox pitcher and broadcaster

My favorite memory of Ed Farmer involves a day when I never actually saw him: Aug. 20, 2016.

My girlfriend, Jen, and I had tickets to a ballgame between the White Sox and the Oakland Athletics. We were sitting at ChiSox Bar & Grill on 35th Street eating dinner before the game, when the restaurant manager approached us and asked if we'd like a ticket upgrade.

Umm ... sure!

Turns out Farmer didn't have anyone to take his tickets that day, so he told the restaurant manager to give them to people who looked like true Sox fans. Well, I'd like to think we qualify, and we ended up sitting right behind the Sox's dugout for that game.

We had an awesome view of Chris Sale tossing eight innings of three-hit, shutout ball as the Sox defeated Oakland, 6-2, that night. Somewhat amusingly, Ross Detwiler -- current Sox roster filler -- took the loss for the Athletics after giving up six runs on 10 hits over four innings.

Thanks for the great seats, Ed! I've never forgotten it!

Sadly, Farmer died Wednesday night at his home in Calabasas, Calif. He was 70 years old.

I could tell you about how Farmer was a native South Sider who grew up dreaming of playing at Comiskey Park, and how those dreams came true during an 11-year playing career that included an All-Star Game appearance in 1980 as a member of the Sox.

And I could tell you about his long broadcasting career with the Sox, which began in 1991 and continued until spring training this year, when Farmer had to step aside because of his declining health.

But instead of listening to me babble, let's hear from Farmer in his own words about a life in baseball:

RIP, Ed. Your activities here will not be forgotten.

Some starts from actual White Sox starting pitchers

The first eight White Sox Cactus League games were mostly characterized by starts from pitchers who will begin the season in the minor leagues, including two outings by the erstwhile Ross Detwiler.

But the past three days, we've seen Dallas Keuchel, Reynaldo Lopez and Dylan Cease get on the mound, and results for the most part have been good.

Cease was perhaps the most impressive of the three. On Wednesday, he worked four innings in a 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed one run on three hits -- a solo home run to Keston Hiura -- while striking out five and issuing no walks.

I'm encouraged for two reasons. First, no walks. That really can't be emphasized enough. I really don't care that Cease gave up a home run, because it was a solo home run. Last season, we saw Cease get himself and the team in real trouble by walking a couple of guys, then giving up a home run. Solo home runs are much easier to overcome than three-run shots and grand slams.

Secondly, Cease got through the first two innings unscathed. The home run did not come until the fourth inning. As you may recall, Cease had a 9.00 ERA in the first inning, and a 9.64 ERA during the second inning, in 2019. He has to get out of the habit of putting his team two and three runs down early in games, and so far, he's avoided trouble out of the gate this spring.

The Sox lost, 6-5, to the Oakland A's on Tuesday, but most of the runs were scored late. Lopez pitched three innings, allowing one run on three hits. He struck out three and walked three, and that control is one area Lopez needs to clean up. One walk an inning isn't going to cut it, but the good news is he kept the ball in the yard and missed some bats.

As you may recall, Lopez surrendered 35 home runs in 184 innings pitched in 2019, so if there's one guy on the Sox's staff who needs to focus on not giving up the long ball, it's Lopez. I'd be more concerned about him giving up home runs than I would be Cease.

As for Keuchel, he was as advertised Monday in a 3-1 loss to the San Diego Padres. He pitched to contact and gave up his share of hits -- six in four innings -- but San Diego only scored one run off him. Keuchel struck out only one, but he didn't walk anybody.

That's pretty much what I'm expecting from Keuchel this year -- a lot of balls put in play, but hopefully, it will be a ton of soft contact in the infield. In this outing, Keuchel recorded eight groundball outs, and not a single flyball out.

That's the formula we're looking for from the veteran left-hander.

What are reasonable expectations for Dallas Keuchel this season?

Dallas Keuchel

As White Sox pitchers and catchers report to camp Wednesday, the pitcher who I'm most curious about on the Sox staff is ... strangely, Dallas Keuchel.

I'm not sure what the Sox are going to get from 32-year-old veteran left-hander, who signed a three-year deal worth $55.5 million with the South Siders this offseason.

First, let's take a look at what Keuchel has provided the past five seasons, the first four with the Houston Astros, then last season with the Atlanta Braves:

2015: 20-8, 2.48 ERA, 2.91 FIP, 1.017 WHIP, 216 Ks, 51 BBs, 232 IP
2016: 9-12, 4.55 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 1.286 WHIP, 144 Ks, 48 BBs, 168 IP
2017: 14-5, 2.90 ERA, 3.79 FIP, 1.119 WHIP, 125 Ks, 47 BBs, 145.2 IP
2018: 12-11, 3.74 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.314 WHIP, 153 Ks, 58 BBs, 204.2 IP
2019: 8-8, 3.75, 4.72 FIP, 1.367 WHIP, 91 Ks, 39 BBs, 112.2 IP

Keuchel was at the height of his powers in 2015, when he won the American League Cy Young Award. He had a down year in 2016, before bouncing back in 2017. The past couple of seasons have been characterized by a decline that is to be expected with his age, but it's not a precipitous decline.

So what do we expect from Keuchel as Sox fans in 2020? I know we're not getting an ace -- he's just not that guy anymore. But, that stat line from 2018, I think I could live with that. If Keuchel provides 200-plus innings and an ERA below 4.00 in a hitters' park such as Guaranteed Rate Field, that's a solid year at this stage of his career.

What does Keuchel need to do to get to that level? Well, I think he's going to have to do a better job the third time through the batting order than he did last season with the Braves. Check out the splits opposing batters had against Keuchel by pitch count, and note how rough it gets once he gets past 75 pitches:

Pitches 1-25: .278/.345/.398
Pitches 26-50: .206/.292/.299
Pitches 51-75: .265/.320/.434
Pitches 76-100: .320/.294/.608

Yikes on that fourth line there, huh? I certainly can't complain about anything I'm seeing for Pitches 1-50. Heck, 51-75 isn't too bad, but that slugging percentage takes a big leap once Keuchel gets past the 75-pitch mark.

We know Sox pitching coach Don Cooper is old-school, believing that going seven innings is "part of the job description" for starting pitchers.

There's no doubt Keuchel will be allowed to pitch deep into games, and there's every reason to believe his floor is higher than the ceilings for past Sox rotation members such as Ivan Nova, Dylan Covey and Ross Detwiler. That alone makes Keuchel a worthwhile signing.

But the key question here is whether he can be more than a five- or six-inning pitcher at this stage of his career. The Sox definitely need him to be.

White Sox sign left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel to three-year contract

Dallas Keuchel

The White Sox on Saturday moved to boost their starting rotation, agreeing to terms with left-hander Dallas Keuchel on a three-year, $55 million contract, according to reports.

The deal includes a vesting option for a fourth season that could take the value of the contract up to $74 million.

Keuchel, 31, won the Cy Young Award in 2015 as a member of the Houston Astros, and he helped that franchise win its only World Series title in 2017. He had a strange season in 2019 -- he was a free agent last offseason, but signed late with the Atlanta Braves, and he didn't pitch until June.

He compiled an 8-8 record with a 3.75 ERA in 19 starts and 112.1 innings pitched. He struck out 91, walked 39 and posted a 1.367 WHIP.

This signing is interesting. Keuchel was once an ace, but he's not anymore, but then again he's not being paid like an ace. For actual ace contracts, see Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg. He's being paid like a stabilizing, mid-rotation veteran, and the hope is he can pitch like a stabilizing, mid-rotation veteran. Keuchel has three 200-plus inning seasons in his past, and he will be the only member of the Sox pitching staff to have ever reached the 200-inning threshold.

Here's how the rotation may look when the season starts:
1. Lucas Giolito
2. Keuchel
3. Reynaldo Lopez
4. Dylan Cease
5. Gio Gonzalez

And let's not forget, Michael Kopech is healthy and will join the rotation at some point.

The concern about Keuchel would be his age. At 31, his best season (2015) is five years in the past. He isn't going to go 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA again. He doesn't have the velocity that the stats guys love -- you're going to be seeing a lot of 87 mph sinkers. And it is true that Keuchel was not the Sox's top choice. That was Zack Wheeler, who signed a five-year deal with Philadelphia.

However, consider these things about Keuchel: He has compiled a 121 ERA+ over the past three seasons. That means he's been 21 percent better than league average over that time, and it's notable that these numbers DO NOT include his Cy Young season of 2015. He's also been healthy, knock on wood. There's only been one stint on the injured list in the past seven years, and that was for a pinched nerve in his neck. Keuchel has never missed time because of a shoulder or elbow problem. And Keuchel had a 60.1 groundball rate last season -- that's the best in baseball for any pitcher who threw more than 110 innings.

Now, whether the Sox infield can catch all those groundballs, that's a matter of debate. But I think that number demonstrates that Keuchel can still be an effective starter for the Sox, and I don't think three years and about $18 million per is an overpay at all -- especially when you consider what aces are receiving in the current marketplace.

Perhaps most importantly, this addition -- and the addition of Gonzalez -- sends pitchers such as Dylan Covey, Carson Fulmer and Ross Detwiler to the back of the line in terms of rotation options. Even if you don't care for these two additions, Keuchel and Gonzalez have a floor that is higher than the ceilings of pitchers such as Covey and Detwiler. At minimum, the Sox have made incremental progress here.

White Sox are bringing back Ross Detwiler (on a minor-league deal)

What? You hoped the White Sox would sign an actual starting pitcher today? Not a chance!

Instead, you will have to settle for the team signing journeyman left-hander Ross Detwiler to a minor-league deal.

Detwiler appeared in 18 games (12 starts) with the Sox in 2019, and he did little to distinguish himself. He went 3-5 with a 6.59 ERA and a 1.614 WHIP in 44 innings.

Like most fans, I had hoped the Sox were moving past guys like this, and I'm hoping this is nothing more than, "Hey, somebody's gotta pitch in Triple-A."

But then you look at the projected Sox rotation, and you can't help but wonder:

1. Lucas Giolito
2. Reynaldo Lopez
3. Dylan Cease
4. ??????
5. ??????

Yes, Michael Kopech should be ready to go when the season starts, but there are rumblings that the team will work him back into the mix slowly, maybe even starting him at Triple-A Charlotte.

In the meantime, somebody else has to fill those two spots. In the absence of another acquisition or two, we're looking at Detwiler, Dylan Covey and Carson Fulmer competing for jobs again.

That sends chills down my spine.

C'mon, Sox, sign a free agent pitcher already, will you?

Audit on bad White Sox starting pitching in 2019

Without looking it up, I was guessing the White Sox started a pitcher who didn't belong out there in about a quarter of their games. Turns out, my instinct was close to right.

Looking over the numbers, I identified 43 of 161 Sox games that were started by pitchers who probably will not be in the major leagues next season:

1. Ross Detwiler. 3-5 with a 5.84 ERA in 12 starts. The Sox went 6-6 in those games.
2. Dylan Covey. 1-7 with an 8.45 ERA in 12 starts. The Sox went 3-9 in those games.
3. Manny Banuelos. 2-4 with an 8.05 ERA in 8 starts. The Sox went 4-4 in those games.
4. Carson Fulmer. 0-1 with a 12.00 ERA in 2 starts. The Sox went 0-2 in those games.
5. Hector Santiago. 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in 2 starts. The Sox went 0-2 in those games.
6. Ervin Santana. 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in 3 starts. The Sox went 1-2 in those games.
7. Odrisamer Despaigne. 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in 3 starts. The Sox went 0-3 in those games.

Add it all up, and the Sox went 15-28 in games started by these seven men. Considering the team was 17 games below .500 overall (72-89), we can see how the back end of the starting rotation was a major problem. This list above represents 13 games below .500 right there.

This needs to be fixed this offseason.

An important September series at Guaranteed Rate Field ... for Cleveland

Mike Clevinger

With one week remaining in the regular season, the closest playoff race is in the American League.

Three teams are fighting for the two wild card spots, with Oakland (94-62) holding a two-game lead for the first spot over Tampa Bay (92-64) and Cleveland (92-64), which are in a dead heat for the final playoff berth entering Monday's games.

I think the A's are going to secure home-field advantage in that wild card game this week. Their six remaining games are all on the road, but they are against the bottom two teams in the AL West. Oakland plays two against the Los Angeles Angels and four at Seattle. A 3-3 record this week should be good enough for the A's. They'll manage.

The battle between Tampa Bay and Cleveland is much more interesting. I think the Rays are the better team, but based on strength of schedule, the Indians have a slight edge in this race.

Mainly, that edge involves Cleveland getting a chance to play three games against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field from Tuesday through Thursday.

To be fair to the Sox, they have more than held their own against the Tribe this season. Chicago owns a 9-7 edge in the season series. However, the pitching matchups this week strongly favor Cleveland:

Tuesday: Mike Clevinger (12-3, 2.54 ERA) vs. Hector Santiago (0-1, 5.23 ERA)
Wednesday: Shane Bieber (15-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Ross Detwiler (2-5, 6.98 ERA)
Thursday: Aaron Civale (3-3, 1.82 ERA) vs. Dylan Cease (4-7, 5.79 ERA)

The first two games of the series, the Indians are throwing starting pitchers who will get Cy Young votes. The Sox are throwing starting pitchers who are lucky they are still in baseball. It will be Thursday before the Sox use a pitcher who could make the game interesting, and even then, the rookie Cease is no sure bet.

Meanwhile, the Rays are playing the Boston Red Sox on Monday night. They then will host the AL East champion New York Yankees on Tuesday and Wednesday before an off day Thursday.

So, between now and Thursday, the Indians have a golden opportunity to seize the lead in this race.

Once we get to the weekend, the schedule tilts back in Tampa Bay's favor, as it will go on the road to face also-ran Toronto, while Cleveland travels to Washington. The Nationals still are fighting to secure home-field advantage in the NL wild card race, so they likely will have something to play for.

From the Sox perspective, it sure would be nice to play spoiler against the rival Indians, but if we're making an honest assessment of the situation, the Sox would be fortunate to take one out of three in this series.

Lucas Giolito out for rest of season with lat strain

September baseball has been painful to watch for White Sox fans, and it looks as though the final couple of weeks are going to be even more nauseating.

Lucas Giolito's season is done. He has been shut down with what the team termed a mild lat strain. There are no long-term concerns associated with this injury, but the Sox's best pitcher will not make his final three starts of the season.

Ross Detwiler was starting in Giolito's place Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins. What could go wrong?

However, this injury does not diminish the fine season Giolito had. He finishes 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 176.2 innings. Last season, he struck out only 125 in 173.1 innings, when he went 10-13 with a 6.13 ERA. Add in the fact that Giolito cut his walks from 90 to 57 in a similar number of innings, and you have to say this is one of the better one-season improvements we've ever seen from a Sox player.

Giolito is tied for first in the American League in complete games (3) and shutouts (2). He's tied for fourth in strikeouts (228), fourth in WHIP (1.06), fifth in bWAR (5.9), sixth in ERA (3.41), sixth in FIP (3.44), seventh in ERA+ (135) and seventh in wins (14) on an absolute garbage team.

Obviously, Giolito got the velocity back on his fastball with his new mechanics and shorter arm swing this season. He was consistently between 94 and 96 mph with his heat, and he could touch 97 at times. During 2018, I didn't see too many fastballs above 92 or 93.

He also learned to command his changeup, and it became a lethal weapon against left-handed hitters. The 2018 version of Giolito didn't have an offspeed pitch he could reliably throw for strikes, let along a swing-and-miss pitch like his changeup became.

The games in which Giolito could throw his slider for strikes in any count, those were the games he dominated. He isn't quite consistent with that breaking ball yet, and I think that's the final frontier for him in his development as a pitcher.

If he can refine his breaking pitch to the point where it's working more nights than not, he can be a perennial All-Star with the fastball and changeup he possesses. It will be interesting to see what he can do for an encore in 2020.

Series sweep by Twins shows the White Sox aren't close to contention

Is anyone else glad they missed Thursday afternoon's game because they were at work? Because I sure am.

The Minnesota Twins have outscored the White Sox, 110-51, in the 16 meetings between the two teams this season. In that context, it's a miracle the Sox have won five of 16.

However, none of those five wins came this week at Guaranteed Rate Field, as the Twins left town with an emphatic three-game sweep.

Poor defense by Tim Anderson, the inability of Ross Detwiler to pitch over that poor defense and garbage relief pitching by Jace Fry led to an 8-2 loss Wednesday night.

Thursday was arguably worse, as Dylan Cease (3-7) wasted no time in erasing the optimism his previous start against the Texas Rangers generated.

Cease allowed hits to the first five batters he faced, and six of the first seven, putting the Sox in a 4-0 hole before they had a chance to bat. The rookie right-hander gave up two more runs in the second inning and allowed two solo home runs to start the third inning before mercifully being removed from the game, which ended in a 10-5 Twins victory.

Final line on Cease: 2 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 Ks, 1 BB.

His season ERA now stands at 6.92. Ugh. This is reminiscent of the first halves we saw from Reynaldo Lopez and Ivan Nova.

In this series, Lucas Giolito was the only Sox pitcher who seemed capable of retiring Minnesota batters. And even he lost, because he gave up two runs on a night when the Sox could only muster one.

The Twins are the leaders in the AL Central with a 82-51 record, and they have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are significantly better than the Sox.

The gap is so wide, in fact, that it's hard to see the Sox making up the difference in just one offseason. I would go as far as to say general manager Rick Hahn needs not one but two big offseasons to get this team into contention by 2021. This Chicago roster has holes in it like Swiss cheese.

Frankly, I think the Sox have overachieved at 60-73. They have benefited from having two even more dismal teams in their division -- the Kansas City Royals (47-88) and the Detroit Tigers (39-92). Not that Minnesota doesn't benefit from playing those teams, too. They clearly do, but the 22-game edge they own on the Sox, and the run differential in head-to-head meetings, doesn't lie.

And let's not forget the Sox are 48-0 when leading after eight innings this year. That's great, but it's probably not going to be duplicated next season. You have to assume there will be more blown leads in 2020, just because of the law of averages in baseball. The Sox bullpen is protecting leads with ridiculously good efficiency, and as nice as that is, it can fool us into believing the team is closer than it really is.

Looking at the 25-man roster, you've got eight to 10 players who belong with the Sox. The rest of the group needs to be overhauled, and not all of that is going to come from within.

Hahn is going to need to pull a rabbit out of his hat to make the optimists in the fan base correct in their belief that the contention window opens next year.

White Sox take three out of four from Texas Rangers

Yoan Moncada

The White Sox need two victories this week to clinch a winning month, as they improved to 14-11 in August by taking three games out of four from the Texas Rangers over the weekend at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The series featured Yoan Moncada's return to the Sox lineup -- and effective starting pitching from Sox hurlers not named Lucas Giolito, whose turn in the rotation did not come up.

The Sox (60-70) will have an off day Monday before continuing the homestand Tuesday, when they open a three-game series against the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins. But here's a look back at the Texas series:

Thursday, Aug. 22
White Sox 6, Rangers 1: Moncada rejoined the Sox and went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer and a double. The home run highlighted a four-run third inning, which also featured a solo shot by James McCann and a RBI single by Tim Anderson.

Left-hander Ross Detwiler (2-3) had his best outing as a member of the Sox, if not the best outing of his career. He struck out a career-high eight over six innings, allowing only one run on three hits. He did not walk a batter. Sox relievers Jimmy Cordero and Kelvin Herrera combined for three innings of hitless, scoreless relief.

It was a weird night for Texas starter Ariel Jurado (6-10), who tossed a complete game but also got knocked around for six runs on 10 hits.

Friday, Aug. 23
White Sox 8, Rangers 3: Will we look back on this as the night when Dylan Cease turned the corner? We can only hope. Cease (3-6) got off to a terrible start, giving up a 3-run homer to Willie Calhoun in the first inning. But the Sox rookie gave up nothing after that. He pitched six innings, striking out nine and walking only one.

The Sox got to Lance Lynn (14-9), who has been one of the better pitchers in the league -- just not on this night. Lynn surrendered seven runs on 11 hits over 5.2 innings. He did strike out 10, but he took the loss.

Moncada once again was 2 for 4 with a two-run homer and a double. Anderson, Leury Garcia and Jon Jay also had multi-hit games. Eight of the nine players in the Sox lineup had at least one hit.

The Sox bullpen, again, was spotless over three innings. Evan Marshall, Aaron Bummer and Alex Colome combined for four strikeouts and no hits or walks allowed.

Saturday, Aug. 24
Rangers 4, White Sox 0: This is the Sox, so there has got to be one clunker in every bunch, right?

Sox starter Ivan Nova (9-10) cruised through five innings, but Anderson booted a grounder off the bat of Elvis Andrus with one out in the sixth, and moments later, Calhoun homered into the right-field stands to put the Rangers up 2-0. Danny Santana added a two-run homer off Cordero in the seventh, and that was that.

The Sox managed eight hits off Kolby Allard (2-0) and two Texas relievers, but seven of them were singles. Ryan Goins doubled with two outs in the ninth for the Sox's lone extra-base hit of the game.

Sox batters finished 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Sunday, Aug. 25
White Sox 2, Rangers 0: It's too bad Reynaldo Lopez (8-11) had to leave this game after five innings with dehydration and flu-like symptoms. He allowed no hits and struck out six while tossing 80 pitches during his outing.

Fortunately, the Sox bullpen covered four innings and finished off a one-hitter. Bummer, Marshall, Jace Fry and Colome each worked a scoreless inning, with Colome earning his 25th save in 26 chances.

Jose Abreu reached 100 RBIs for the fifth time in his six seasons with the Sox. He knocked in both Chicago runs, one with an RBI single in the third, and the other on a fielder's choice in the seventh.

Sox batters couldn't do much with Texas rookie left-hander Brock Burke (0-1), who allowed only one run over six innings. But much like Nova on Saturday night, Burke forgot to throw a shutout and ended up getting beat.

Reason to celebrate: White Sox don't play Oakland again this season

Mike Fiers

The White Sox played six games against the Oakland Athletics this season, and they were outscored 32-8. Yes, that's right: The Sox scored only eight runs in six games against Oakland pitching. In that context, it's a miracle they won one -- and that came Saturday night.

Here's a look back at the weekend series at Guaranteed Rate Field, during which the A's won two out of three games.

Friday, Aug. 9
A's 7, White Sox 0: Friday was one of those days when I looked at the pitching matchup and said, "The Sox have no chance today." They've never hit Mike Fiers well, and I never have high expectations for any Ross Detwiler start.

In fairness to Detwiler (1-3), there's was nothing wrong with his outing -- even though he took the loss. He went 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs (both on solo home runs) on four hits. Matt Chapman homered in the first inning. Stephen Piscotty homered in the second.

That was plenty for Fiers (11-3), who struck out eight, walked nobody and allowed only three hits over seven shutout innings. The Sox finished the game with four hits, all singles.

The game got out of hand in the eighth inning, when the A's scored five runs off the combination of Jace Fry and Josh Osich. Fry failed to retire a hitter and was charged with four runs after he allowed two walks and two hits, including a home run by Chad Pinder.

Good job, good effort.

Saturday, Aug. 10
White Sox 3, A's 2: It was Eloy Jimenez bobblehead night, and the rookie left fielder marked the occasion by hitting his 19th home run of the season. The Sox scored their other two runs with speed. Leury Garcia stole third base and scored a run when the throw by Oakland catcher Chris Herrmann squirted away into shallow left field. Tim Anderson, while running on a 3-2 pitch, scored from first base on a single by Welington Castillo.

That backed a nice effort from Reynaldo Lopez (7-9), who navigated around six hits allowed and three walks to toss 6.1 shutout innings. Lopez did not have swing-and-miss stuff -- he struck out only three, but he benefited from three double plays.

The Sox bullpen was shaky, as Oakland stranded eight runners over the last three innings. The A's loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, when Jon Jay made a nice running catch in right field to save a potential bases-clearing double off Pinder's bat.

Oakland placed runners on first and second with two out in the eighth, and Anderson made a nice play to his left to throw out Piscotty for the third out.

The Sox led, 3-0, going into the ninth, but the A's scored two unearned runs against Alex Colome, who struck out Khris Davis with two outs and the bases loaded to earn his 23rd save of the season.

Sunday, Aug. 11
A's 2, White Sox 0: The Sox honored newly inducted Hall of Famer Harold Baines with a ceremony before the game (more on that later), and frankly, the team might as well have allowed the 60-year-old Baines to take an at-bat -- he couldn't have done any worse than the current Sox hitters did against Chris Bassitt (8-5) and three Oakland relievers.

The South Siders managed only five hits (four of them singles) and didn't have a man reach third base after the second inning.

Too bad because Lucas Giolito (12-6) struck out a career high 13 and walked only one in six innings pitched. Unfortunately, he had one bad inning where he allowed a two-run homer to Oakland's Matt Olson, and given the way Sox hitters handle Oakland pitching, that was enough to get him beat on this day.

In Giolito's previous outing, he wasn't sharp at all in allowing three runs over six innings to the lowly Detroit Tigers. But, he won that start. On Sunday, I thought he was impressive, but he lost. That's baseball for you; it's a funny game.

And we can only speculate why Oakland has seemingly owned the Sox for decades.

White Sox win three-game series against Philadelphia Phillies

Jose Abreu

The White Sox have won only two series since the All-Star break. Somewhat amusingly, both of them were on the road against playoff contenders.

The South Siders took two out of three from the Tampa Bay Rays (65-48) from July 19-21, and now, they took two out of three from the Philadelphia Phillies (58-53) in an interleague series over the weekend.

Going into the series, I thought the Sox (48-61) had a puncher's chance in two of the three games -- based upon pitching matchups -- and it turns out they won both those games in which I thought they had a chance.

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

Friday, Aug. 2
White Sox 4, Phillies 3, 15 innings: This was one of the most wild games you'll see. The Sox essentially outlasted Philadelphia, because the Phillies had an outfielder on the mound and a pitcher playing left field when the game ended.

That said, Philadelphia pitcher Vince Velasquez made three spectacular plays in left field. He threw out Jose Abreu at the plate to keep the Sox off the board in the top of the 14th. He made perhaps a better throw in the top of the 15th, but the speedy Leury Garcia was just barely safe at home on an single to left by Abreu.

Velasquez also made a diving catch on a liner off the bat of Eloy Jimenez. Two were on with two out at the time, so if that one falls in, the Sox score at least two more runs in that 15th inning. Alas, the 4-3 lead had to be enough, and it was.

Josh Osich (1-0) worked two innings of scoreless relief to earn the win for the Sox. Outfielder Roman Quinn (0-1) got through the 14th inning unscathed while pitching, but he took the loss after giving up the aforementioned run in the 15th.

The starting pitchers in this game were Ivan Nova and Jason Vargas -- mediocre at-best veterans. I figured this was anybody's game, and the Sox won it.

Saturday, Aug. 3
Phillies 3, White Sox 2: This was the game that I thought the Sox would lose, with Philadelphia ace Aaron Nola pitching against Ross Detwiler. And, in fact, Nola (10-2) won and Detwiler (1-2) lost, although we can give the Sox's left-hander credit for not making a fool out of himself.

The day after a 15-inning game, Detwiler chewed up 5.2 innings and gave up only two runs -- back-to-back home runs by Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins.

Down 2-1 in the seventh, the Sox had runners at second and third with only one out, but a ill-fated safety squeeze killed that rally. Yolmer Sanchez made a decent bunt, but Hoskins, the Philadelphia first baseman, obviously knew it was coming. He easily threw out Jimenez at the plate, from about 50 feet away.

Memo to Sox manager Rick Renteria: Please stop with the safety squeeze bunt. The opposition knows it is coming, and it is foolish to play for the tie on the road anyway. I know the Sox strike out way too much, but the excessive reliance on bunting isn't winning games for this team, either.

Sunday, Aug. 4
White Sox 10, Phillies 5: Coming into this game, the Sox had scored only 44 runs in their previous 22 games, so it was refreshing to see them put some runs up against Drew Smyly and the Philadelphia bullpen.

Garcia's grand slam highlighted a five-run second inning. Jimenez connected for a three-run homer, his 18th of the season and first since July 14, and Tim Anderson added a solo home run in the ninth.

I figured Reynaldo Lopez and Smyly was a fair fight in terms of the pitching matchup, and Lopez (6-9) survived some rough moments the third time through the batting order to pick up the victory.

He went 5.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits. That's where it helps to have the run support. Philadelphia cut the lead to 5-3 in the sixth and had two men on base, but Aaron Bummer entered and got an inning-ending double play to settle things down and end the Phillies best chance to tie or take the lead.