Long, dismal day, night for White Sox
Considering all that transpired for the White Sox on a very long Monday in Cleveland, it would be fitting to say they are mired in a tropical depression.
Poor weather postponed an April 10 game between the Sox and the Indians at Progressive Field, so the AL Central rivals had to play a day-night doubleheader Monday.
Fittingly for the White Sox, both games were delayed by rain. And both games ended with a loss.
While falling for the 11th time in 14 games and dropping 5 games behind first-place Cleveland, the Sox are playing like a team that is going to be washed right into the gutter.
The Sox lost Game 1, 8-6, and lost Game 2, 3-2.
Let's get right to the lowlights:
ŸIn the opener, Philip Humber made his third straight subpar start since throwing a perfect game at Seattle on April 21.
Humber lasted just 2 innings in Game 1 and allowed 8 runs on 9 hits. Since the perfect game, Humber is 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA.
If Chris Sale wasn't pulled from the rotation Friday because of elbow discomfort, Humber would be in serious jeopardy of losing his job.
"I'm frustrated," Humber told reporters. "I'm doing my best; it's just the last two or three times out there, it's been rough. Today, I did not feel like I had very good stuff at all.
"It's not a health issue or anything like that. I'm not getting down on myself. I know I have what it takes to pitch well."
Allowing 20 earned runs over your last 13 innings is definitely not pitching well.
ŸWith still no sign of Sale, who has been moved to the bullpen, Matt Thornton (1-2) pitched the bottom of the eighth in Game 2 after the White Sox rallied to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the inning following a rain delay of 1 hour, 25 minutes.
Thornton, who served up a walk-off home run to Jhonny Peralta in the ninth inning Friday at Detroit, allowed bloop singles to Cleveland's Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana to open the eighth.
After Travis Hafner popped out, Shelley Duncan sat on another Thornton fastball and ripped an RBI double into the left-field corner to decide the outcome.
ŸThe White Sox did manage 6 runs in Game 1, but they struck out 17 times in the doubleheader and have gone down on strikes 245 times on the season - tops in the major leagues.
Brent Lillibridge was 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts in the doubleheader. Adam Dunn was 0-for-6 with 3 strikeouts.
OK, there was some good news Monday:
ŸAfter coming up from Class AA Birmingham before the doubleheader, left-handed pitcher Carlos Quintana relieved Humber in Game 1 and pitched 5 scoreless innings.
Not only did he save the bullpen, Quintana had the longest scoreless outing by a Sox reliever since Brian Keyser went the same distance on Aug. 20, 1995.
ŸEric Stults had his contract purchased from Class AAA Charlotte before the doubleheader, and the left-hander started Game 2.
Stults probably earned another look after pitching 6 innings and allowing 2 runs on 4 hits. Making his first major-league start since Aug. 9, 2009, when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Stults also issued 4 walks.
The left-hander was hurt in the fifth inning when he issued a two-out walk to No. 9 hitter Lou Marson, who was batting .059.
Marson stole second and scored on Michael Brantley's single as the Indians tied the game at 1-1. Jason Kipnis' single scored Brantley.
sgregor@dailyherald.com