Does anyone really want to talk about the White Sox losing three out of four to the Kansas City Royals? Anyone up for a debate on Pedro Grifol's bullpen usage?
Nah, me neither.
The Sox stink, and there's nothing much to say. So, here's a "blooper reel" that's more entertaining than today's game was:
The top of the first inning gave me some really bad vibes Wednesday night.
Kansas City starting pitcher Brad Keller is the American League leader in walks issued. He had walked 28 batters in 34.2 innings pitched coming into his start Wednesday against the White Sox.
And he walked Tim Anderson and Andrew Benintendi to start this game. Eight of his first 10 pitches were out of the zone. Good start for the Sox, right?
Then Andrew Vaughn swung at a bad pitch and grounded into a double play, and Luis Robert Jr. struck out flailing at a breaking ball in the dirt. Keller got off the hook, and I laughed out loud, knowing what was coming next.
The Royals pounded Lance Lynn for four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Keller settled in, and Kansas City went on to an easy 9-1 victory.
It was the second time in three days the 11-27 Royals have blown out the Sox, who dropped to 13-25.
This game was over in the first inning. Against the Royals. In the middle of an alleged "contention window" for the Sox. Let that rattle around in your head for a bit, and tell me you still think the Sox are going to rally to make the playoffs.
Sorry, I don't see it.
Lynn gave up seven runs on nine hits over five innings. He's now 1-5 with a 7.51 ERA over eight starts.
By way of comparison, Dallas Keuchel made eight starts for the Sox last season. He went 2-5 with a 7.88 ERA before being designated for assignment.
Yes, Lynn is in Keuchel territory.
But no, I'm not calling for Lynn to be designated for assignment. The fact is the Sox have nobody at Triple-A Charlotte who looks like a viable replacement, so they are just going to have to hope he turns it around. If he doesn't, he'll be wearing it all summer long.
Quick recap tonight, because it's getting late after a long rain delay. The White Sox and Kansas City Royals waited two hours to start Tuesday, and then the game itself took only two hours and two minutes to play. (Three cheers for the pitch clock!)
Thank goodness the Sox won, 4-2, because it would be embarrassing to lose to Kansas City two days in a row.
Luis Robert Jr. hit his eighth home run of the season -- a solo shot -- in the fourth inning. Andrew Vaughn's fourth homer of the year brought home two runs in the sixth, and Seby Zavala added an RBI single in the seventh to cap the Sox's scoring against Jordan Lyles (0-6), who pitched a complete game for the Royals despite taking the loss.
Lucas Giolito struck out nine over six innings of two-run ball for the Sox. Three relief pitchers combined to retire all nine Kansas City batters they faced. Joe Kelly pitched the seventh. Reynaldo Lopez worked the eighth. Kendall Graveman needed only seven pitches to induce three pop-outs in the ninth for his first save of 2023.
Giolito is 2-2 with a 3.59 ERA. He's posted five quality starts in his past six outings. He is indeed back to being the Sox's most reliable starting pitcher. It is the final year of his contract, so he's got millions of reasons to continue pitching well.
The Sox are 13-24. The Royals are 10-27.
The White Sox had a 3-1 lead after three innings with their Opening Day starter on the mound Monday night against the last-place Kansas City Royals.
The Sox also got blown to bits Monday night by the last-place Royals, as Kansas City rallied for an easy 12-5 victory.
The Royals (10-26) are now 4-16 at home. I'm guessing their home record is that bad because they haven't had an opportunity to host the equally sad Sox (12-24) until now.
Dylan Cease had another poor outing in this game. He lasted five-plus innings, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits. He struck out six and walked one.
Gavin Sheets hit a home run to tie the score at 4-4 in the top of the sixth, but Cease failed to retire a batter in the bottom of the inning. He left with the bases loaded and no outs.
By the time the sixth inning was over, the Royals led 12-4. I'll spare you the details of the eight-run inning, which featured horrendous pitching from relievers Aaron Bummer and Jimmy Lambert.
Bummer, a lefty who is allegedly good at retiring left-handed batters, gave up three hits -- all to lefties. Absolutely ridiculous.
Bigger picture, one of the tragedies of the 2022 season is that Cease's career year went to waste. He had a 2.20 ERA and finished second in the Cy Young voting last year, going 14-8 for a team that finished 81-81.
He's not the same guy through eight starts this season, not even close. He's 2-2 with a 5.58 ERA. Only two of his outings have been quality starts. His last four outings have been four innings, four innings, five innings and five innings, respectively.
It's just not good enough, for Cease or the team as a whole. There's 126 games left. I'm not sure that's a good thing right now.
That's all I got tonight.
Coming into the weekend, we stated that the White Sox needed to win at least two out of three games on the road against the Cincinnati Reds.
That's exactly what they did. The South Siders scored 11 runs in the top of the second inning Sunday and went on to beat the Reds, 17-4, in the rubber match of the series.
Hanser Alberto's two-run homer and Gavin Sheets' 3-run homer on a 3-0 pitch highlighted the rally, which was the biggest inning the Sox have had since they hung 11 runs on the Kansas City Royals on Sept. 17, 2007.
The 17 runs are the most the Sox have scored in a game since they put up 17 against the Cubs on Aug. 27, 2021. (As a cautionary tale, the Sox got shut out in their following game, so you can't be assured that the momentum will carry over into Monday.)
In any case, the Sox lost Saturday's ballgame, 5-3, because they were only 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. That's been a severe problem as of late. Since April 22, the Sox rank last in the league with a .176 batting average in those situations.
But on Sunday, they went 8 for 13 with runners in scoring position, including 5 for 6 in the second inning alone.
Alberto had his best game as a member of the Sox. He went 4 for 4 with a homer, two doubles, a single and a walk, plus four RBIs. Luis Robert Jr. reached base in all four of his plate appearances -- two doubles and two walks -- and he came around to score all four times. With the score out of hand, Robert was subbed out in the late innings. Andrew Vaughn finished a home run short of the cycle. He was 3 for 5 with four RBIs.
Michael Kopech (1-3) picked up his first win of the season. He wasn't sharp, but he didn't need to be. He lasted six innings, giving up four runs -- all on solo homers. He struck out only two, which shows his stuff wasn't his best. We know from the past that Kopech misses bats when he's on, but he generated only six whiffs on 99 pitches Sunday.
The good news is Kopech walked only one. He was staked to an 11-1 advantage by the time he hit the mound in the second inning, and it's never a bad idea to throw strikes with a double-digit lead.
In the big picture, the Sox's record is still an ugly 12-23, but if you're looking for silver linings, they are 5-2 in their past seven games.
But, of course, all good news must be balanced out with some catastrophe. This weekend, Eloy Jimenez was hospitalized with severe stomach pain. He had surgery for acute appendicitis, and he is expected to be out for four to six weeks.
The Sox placed Jimenez on the injured list Sunday and recalled catcher Carlos Perez from Triple-A Charlotte.
I'm a little surprised we aren't seeing Oscar Colas, but it looks as though the Sox have decided to carry an extra catcher and give Yasmani Grandal more at-bats as the DH.
Grandal was the DH on Sunday, and he went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. For the season, he's batting .275/.357/.441. That's much, much better than anything we saw from Grandal during the 2022 season. He has recently left a couple of games early because of back spasms, so maybe catching less and DH'ing more will keep him healthy. The Sox need him to continue producing while Jimenez is out.
The White Sox begin a seven-game road trip Friday, starting with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. Here's a look at the pitching matchups:
Friday, 5:40 p.m.: Lance Lynn (0-4, 7.16 ERA) vs Hunter Greene (0-1, 2.89 ERA)
Saturday, 5:40 p.m.: Mike Clevinger (2-2, 4.60 ERA) vs. Nick Lodolo (2-1, 6.16 ERA)
Sunday, 3:10 p.m.: Michael Kopech (0-3, 7.01 ERA) vs. Luke Weaver (0-2, 7.88 ERA)
The Reds enter this series in fourth place in the NL Central. Their record is 13-18.
I've heard a lot about how the Sox are 10-22, in part, because they've played a "tough schedule." Well, the Reds are a rebuilding team. If the Sox believe they can recover from their horrendous start and get back into contention, this is the type of series where you better win at least two of three.
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| Lucas Giolito |
The 28-year-old right-hander tossed seven innings of one-run ball against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field. For Giolito, it was his fourth quality start in his past five games, and his fifth consecutive start of six innings or more.
Too bad the Sox wasted it.
The Twins scored five runs in the top of the 12th inning to snap a 2-2 tie, and finished off a 7-3 victory. With the win, Minnesota (18-14) salvages the final game of the three-game series and snaps a three-game winning streak for the Sox (10-22).
This was a missed opportunity for the Sox, on multiple levels. Sox batters went a pathetic 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position in this game. The only hit came in the bottom of the 12th, while they were trailing 7-2. It was a meaningless RBI single by Eloy Jimenez that scored ghost runner Billy Hamilton.
Hamilton, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Andrew Vaughn in the eighth inning, twice made it to third base with zero outs -- in the eighth inning and in the 10th. Had he scored in the eighth, the Sox probably win. Had he scored in the 10th, the Sox definitely win.
Alas, nobody could muster so much as a sacrifice fly with the game on the line.
In the eighth inning, Hamilton stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. However, both Jimenez and Tim Anderson hit grounders to the left side of the infield that Hamilton could not score on. Luis Robert Jr. was intentionally walked, and Hanser Alberto grounded out.
Hamilton started the 10th inning on second base as the ghost runner. Jimenez was intentionally walked to start the inning, and both men advanced on a wild pitch.
Anderson was at the plate with second and third and no outs, but he swung through a 3-2 slider that looked hittable for strike three. Robert Jr. was intentionally walked again to load the bases for Alberto, who swung and missed at a 1-2 pitch that hit him in the arm. Strike three. If he had just not swung, that's a game-winning HBP. Then Elvis Andrus struck out to end the threat.
Anderson, Alberto and Andrus all were guilty of swinging through or fouling off hanging sliders in that inning. It was ludicrous that nobody put a ball in play.
The Twins finally broke through for five runs in the 12th off the combination of Alex Colome and Sammy Peralta. The ghost runner scored from second when Anderson booted a grounder to shortstop, capping a terrible day for the Sox's best all-around player.
Pity Giolito, who left after seven innings with a 2-1 lead. The Sox bullpen couldn't hold it, as Reynaldo Lopez game up a game-tying home run to Byron Buxton in the eighth. Lopez has now allowed six homers in only 13.1 innings pitched this season. It's time to reconsider his role. He cannot be allowed to pitch in high leverage against the other team's best hitters (such as Buxton) until he figures out how to keep the ball in the park.
The Sox started this series nine games back of the Twins. They cut that lead to seven after winning the first two games, and there's no question they should have won Thursday to pull within six games. Instead, they kicked this game away, and they are eight back.
Of course, team management is saying they can get back in the race. There's enough time left to do that in the season, sure, but missed opportunities like Thursday do not inspire confidence.
Burger to IL
Third baseman Jake Burger has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left oblique. Lenyn Sosa was recalled to take his place on the roster.
Sosa started at second base Thursday and shifted to third late in the game. He went 0 for 4 with two Ks, to drop his season average to .140. You may recall that Sosa was just sent to Triple-A on Tuesday. There was a good reason for that -- he's not ready to play in the big leagues.
Instead, injuries and a lack of depth have forced him into a role that he's not prepared to fill. General manager Rick Hahn has once again built a one-ply roster. The 10-22 record is not an accident.
