White Sox split doubleheader with Yankees

Good news: I was wrong. The wildfire smoke in New York did clear in time for the White Sox and Yankees to play two games on Thursday.

Like most doubleheaders, this was a split. The Sox took the opener, 6-5. The Yankees came back to take the second game, 3-0. 

If you would have told me Thursday morning that the Sox would win one game in the doubleheader and leave New York having taken two of three games in the series, I would have taken it. A series win here exceeds expectations.

Here's a look at what happened:

Game 1. The Sox scored all six of their runs on homers. Jake Burger, Luis Robert Jr., Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez all homered. Jimenez delivered a two-run shot in the top of the seventh that turned a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead. The bullpen made it stick.

The offense was welcome, because starting pitcher Lance Lynn had another shaky outing. He lasted five innings, allowing five earned runs on eight hits. He struck out four and walked three. His season ERA is 6.72.

Fortunately, the Sox bullpen threw four scoreless innings. Gregory Santos (2-0) picked up the win after a clean sixth inning. Kendall Graveman allowed the first two runners to reach in the bottom of the ninth, but an infield pop fly and a double play got him out of trouble. He is 6 for 6 in save opportunities.

For the first time ever, Robert Jr., Moncada and Jimenez homered in the same game. Given that this is their fourth year as teammates, that's sort of unbelievable. But then again, at least one of them is usually hurt; they haven't been in the same lineup enough to make that happen -- until now.

Game 2. The Sox were limited to two hits, and Jimenez is day to day after pulling up lame after hitting a grounder to shortstop in the ninth inning. It's always something with these guys, isn't it?

This loss snapped the Sox's season-best five-game winning streak. They had no answer for Yankees rookie Randy Vasquez (1-1) and two New York relievers. A single by Jimenez and a single by Gavin Sheets ... and that was it for the Sox offense.

Mike Clevinger (3-4) had a serviceable start, but took the loss. He allowed three runs over 5.2 innings.

The Sox are 28-36 and will come home to face the Miami Marlins in a three-game weekend set at Guaranteed Rate Field.

White Sox-Yankees game postponed because of ... wildfire smoke

One phrase I've retired from my vocabulary is, "Now I've seen everything." Because just when I think I've seen everything, something else happens.

Wednesday's game between the White Sox and the New York Yankees was postponed because smoke from Canadian wildfires has caused hazardous air quality in New York City. That's a new one for me.

The teams plan to play a straight doubleheader, starting at 3 p.m. Central time Thursday.

Frankly, I'm a little bit surprised by those plans. With no rain in the forecast, do they expect this hazardous smoke to clear out by Thursday afternoon?

Nine innings of baseball is hazardous on Wednesday night, but 18 innings of baseball on Thursday afternoon and evening should be fine? Hmmm. I won't pretend to be an expert -- and after the past three years, who believes experts anymore anyway? -- but I'm skeptical this is going to work out. I hope it does, because I always prefer that baseball be played.

My thought was maybe it would be prudent to move the remaining two games of this series to a city that is not dealing with these issues. I can tell you the air quality is just fine in Chicago right now.

Lucas Giolito throws six no-hit innings; White Sox beat Yankees

Lucas Giolito

Aaron Judge did not play for the New York Yankees on Tuesday night ... and the White Sox actually took advantage!

Lucas Giolito pitched six no-hit innings, and catcher Seby Zavala homered twice to lift the Sox to a 3-2 win at Yankee Stadium.

This was the second time this season that Giolito (5-4) went six innings without allowing a hit. Both times, he had to be removed because of a high pitch count. In this outing, he struck out seven, walked three and threw 58 of his 100 pitches for strikes. 

In particular, Giolito's slider was effective to right-handed hitters, and no doubt the absence of Judge (day-to-day with a foot injury) -- the reigning American League MVP -- made his job a little bit easier.

Of all people, Zavala was the one to come through offensively. In the bottom of the third inning, he hit a 320-foot wall-scraper that just cleared the 314 mark by the right-field foul pole. It might have been a home run in only one of 30 MLB parks, but that one park happens to be Yankee Stadium.

Zavala added a two-run shot in the fifth off New York starter Clarke Schmidt (2-6). This was one not cheap. It was a 435-foot blast to the pull field on what looked like a hanging slider. That gave the Sox a 3-0 lead, which is where the score remained until the seventh.

Joe Kelly relieved for the Sox and issued a two-out walk. Poor defense cost the Sox the no-hitter when Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi miscommunicated on a fly ball to left-center by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Nobody called for the ball, and it fell at Robert Jr.'s feet for an RBI "double."

Kelly escaped the inning without further damage, and Kendall Graveman worked a 1-2-3 eighth for the Sox.

That set the stage for Liam Hendriks' first save opportunity of the season. It was an interesting move by Sox manager Pedro Grifol, because Hendriks entered Tuesday's action with a career 7.83 ERA against the Yankees.

That ERA went up when Josh Donaldson hit Hendriks' first pitch of the ninth for a solo homer to make it 3-2. However, Hendriks rallied and got three consecutive groundouts to shortstop to earn his first save since returning from cancer treatment.

The Sox are 27-35.

White Sox offense continues to disappoint

I didn't want to dump on the White Sox after they swept the Detroit Tigers over the weekend. When your favorite team is 26-35, you have to take the positives when they come, right?

But the fact is the Sox won those three games almost solely on the basis of their pitching. They scored only 11 runs in the series, even though the Detroit pitching staff doesn't have anyone who will be confused with a Cy Young contender.

During those three games, the Sox went 19 for 97 (.196) with 16 singles, two doubles and only one home run. They struck out 31 times against nine walks -- two of which were intentional. Not good.

Fortunately, Sox pitching only gave up three runs total in the three games. But with stronger teams lurking on the June schedule -- the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Texas Rangers, to name a few -- the Sox are going to have to start hitting.

The pitching staff could perform well and still give up four or five runs per game to the aforementioned playoff contenders. If that's the case, the Sox better be able to score five or six runs every now and then. It hasn't happened much, because there are too many guys struggling.

Let's take a look at some of these lineup spots that aren't generating much:

Tim Anderson. The Sox leadoff hitter has yet to homer in 2023, and he has only eight extra-base hits (all doubles). A .633 OPS and a 76 OPS+ isn't going to get it done from a player who has made the All-Star team in past years.

Yasmani Grandal. The slow-footed catcher is 4 for 28 in his past eight games and has no extra-base hits in that span. That's not good, because when Grandal singles, he clogs the bases. The Sox need him to provide some power.

Yoan Moncada. The switch-hitting third baseman is 2 for 22 with no extra-base hits in his past eight games. He has a .684 OPS and a 88 OPS+ for the season. Moncada hit two home runs in the season-opening series against the Houston Astros. He hasn't homered since April 2.

Andrew Benintendi. His next home run in a Sox uniform will be his first. Benintendi is now 231 plate appearances into his career on the South Side, and he's yet to take advantage of the relatively short fence in right field at Guaranteed Rate Field. He has a .686 OPS and a 90 OPS+.

Luis Robert Jr. The team leader in home runs with 13 has not gone deep since May 21. He is 6 for 36 with 16 strikeouts in his past nine games. Robert Jr. has already struck out 70 times this season in 240 plate appearances.

Gavin Sheets. In his past five games, Sheets is 0 for 11 with five strikeouts. That's not going to cut it for a player whose only value comes from being a left-handed bat.

I could go on, but you get the idea. 

If you look at WAR on baseballreference.com, six of the top eight Sox players this season are pitchers. Only Robert Jr. and Jake Burger crack the top eight among position players.

In all of baseball, the Sox rank 21st in batting average (.240), 28th in on-base percentage (.297), 23rd in slugging percentage (.386), 25th in OPS (.683) and 25th in OPS+ (87). Those numbers are entering Monday's play.

So, by almost every metric, the Sox are a bottom-third offense in MLB. I don't think they are going to storm back into contention this way. The bats have to wake up soon, or else the good vibes from this recent series with the Tigers will be short-lived.

White Sox sweep Detroit Tigers

Guaranteed Rate Field moments before first pitch Saturday.

The White Sox limited the Detroit Tigers to only three runs total in a three-game weekend sweep at Guaranteed Rate Field. 

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

Friday, June 2

White Sox 3, Tigers 0. Detroit pitcher Reese Olson made his MLB debut and held the Sox hitless through five innings. But the South Siders broke through with two runs on four singles in the bottom of the sixth. Andrew Benintendi and Eloy Jimenez delivered the RBI hits. Tim Anderson added an RBI double in the seventh, and the Sox bullpen made the lead stick.

Mike Clevinger pitched five innings of scoreless ball in his return from the injured list. Four relievers pitched a scoreless inning each. Keynan Middleton (1-0) got the victory after working the top of the sixth. Kendall Graveman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save.

Saturday, June 3

White Sox 2, Tigers 1, 10 innings. This was one of the weirdest games I've ever attended. There were only three runs scored, and all of them came home on wild pitches. In fact, this was the first game in MLB history with three run-scoring wild pitches and no runs scored on anything else.

In the fourth inning, Benintendi singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch. The Tigers answered in the sixth when Zach McKinstry tripled and scored on a wild pitch by Sox starter Dylan Cease.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the 10th. With the bases loaded and two outs, and Anderson at the plate, Detroit reliever Jose Cisnero threw a high fastball that catcher Eric Haase missed. The ball struck umpire Cory Blaser square in the mask and deflected away. Yoan Moncada came home from third to score the winning run, while Anderson and Haase helped a stunned Blaser back to his feet. 

The Sox celebrated a win, but there was also a great deal of concern for the injured umpire, who ended up missing Sunday's game with concussion symptoms. You may never see an ending like that again.

Sunday, June 4

White Sox 6, Tigers 2. Jake Burger became the ninth Sox player to hit a walk-off grand slam, and the first since Jose Abreu on April 25, 2014.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Burger got a 1-0 curve from Detroit closer Alex Lange and golfed over the left-field fence for the game-winning hit. It was Burger's 12th home run of the season.

The blast made a winner of Liam Hendriks (1-0) on National Cancer Survivors Day. The veteran right-hander worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth with two strikeouts, and this was by far the sharpest he has looked in three outings since returning to the mound after winning his battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hendriks' fastball topped out at 97 mph, and he was throwing his slider for strikes -- both positive signs.

Also a positive sign: Michael Kopech had a strong outing. He allowed only two runs on three hits. He struck out nine and walked one. He has struck out at least nine batters in each of his past four starts, totaling 38 strikeouts in 26.1 innings during that span. 

The Sox are 26-35 heading into an off day Monday. Next up, a three-game series in the Bronx against the New York Yankees (36-25).

It's June 1, and the White Sox have only 23 wins

The baseball season is long, and it's easy as a fan to get too high after a win and too low after a loss. 

What I've learned to do through the years is take stock of how my favorite team is doing after each month. The season is six months long, and as a general rule, I feel like any club that gets to 90 wins or better is having a good year -- and can claim to have a chance to get into the playoffs and do something once they get there.

I'm sure some people will quickly cite examples of 87-win teams that have won the World Series. They do exist. But we're speaking in generalities here, and asking ourselves, is our favorite team on the right track?

So, if you accept 90 wins as a reasonable benchmark of quality, and you know the season is six months long, that means you need to win about 15 games per month, right?

I'm always thinking this way: 

• Have 15 wins by May 1.
• Have 30 wins by June 1.
• Have 45 wins by July 1.
• Have 60 wins by Aug. 1.
• Have 75 wins by Sept. 1.
• Have 90 wins by Oct. 1.

This gets me off the roller coaster of worrying about the day-to-day results. Instead, I just ask myself the question, "Is the team trending at a reasonable pace?"

The answer for the White Sox is a resounding no. They were 8-21 on May 1, seven wins behind that pace you want to see. 

In May, they went 15-14. OK, that's not great, but they hit that 15-win benchmark. Alas, they are 23-35, still seven wins behind the pace I want to see by June 1.

If they were two or three wins off, that wouldn't be so bad. However, seven is going to be hard to make up. To get 90 wins, the Sox are going to have to win 17 games per month for the remaining four months -- a tall order for a team that's yet to win more than three games in a row.

If the Sox win 15 games per month for the remaining four months, they are going to check in at 73-89 -- not nearly good enough, not even in a weak division.

That's why I'm feeling as though it's time to back up the truck and get ready for 2024. Having only eight wins on May 1 has simply buried this team into an insurmountable hole.

Will Lance Lynn get DFA'd by White Sox?

Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani combined to hit 1,345 feet of home runs off White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn on Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Trout hit a 461-foot cannon shot in the first inning on a pitch that I would hesitate to call a slider -- it did absolutely nothing. Ohtani's home runs -- one in the third inning and another in the fourth -- traveled 425 feet and 459 feet, respectively.

Yes, it was a rough day for Lynn (4-6), as the Los Angeles Angels routed the Sox, 12-5.

The final line for Lynn: He pitched four innings, allowing eight runs (all earned) on eight hits. He struck out four, walked two, hit two batters and surrendered three titanic home runs. He gave the Sox no chance to win.

His ERA ballooned to 6.55 in 12 starts. His WHIP was an ugly 1.453 coming into Wednesday, and that's about to get worse. His velocity is down -- bad news for a fastball pitcher -- and at age 36, it's fair to wonder if Lynn's best days are past.

In the wake of this terrible game, I've seen Sox fans on social media calling for Lynn to be designated for assignment.

It is true that a roster move is due -- Mike Clevinger is ready to come off the injured list and rejoin the starting rotation. That will probably happen this weekend against the Detroit Tigers.

However, I expect Jesse Scholtens to be optioned to Triple-A Charlotte, even though Scholtens did a reasonable job in relief Wednesday. He worked four innings, gave up only two runs and generally went about the business of getting this terrible game over with as quickly as possible.

Here's the problem with getting rid of Lynn: Scholtens, a 29-year-old who just made his big league debut earlier this season, is the only pitcher in the Sox system who looks credible enough to provide depth in the rotation. 

Say you let Lynn go and install Scholtens in the rotation, and then you have another injury (a very likely possibility with this fragile team). Then what? Cover your eyes when you look at the pitching statistics for Triple-A Charlotte. With Davis Martin out for the season after elbow surgery, there isn't anyone else who can help.

There are 104 games left in the season. That means there are somewhere between 900 and 950 innings left to cover. The Sox are 23-35. They are out of race, but they still have to play these games and somebody has to take the mound and wear it. Might as well be Lynn.

Then, when the season ends, you decline Lynn's option for 2024 and regroup.