White Sox’ Dunn back in one of his bad streaks
The highlight for the White Sox on Monday night?
Considering the lopsided 7-0 loss to the Cubs, good luck finding one.
Let’s go with the final out of the game as No. 1, and rank Adam Dunn’s flyout to the right-field warning track in the second inning No. 2.
Dunn finished the game 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts, and a 2-for-25 homestand has dropped his batting average to .156.
The Sox’ designated hitter/first baseman has been bothered by back spasms for more than a week. “It’s all right,” Dunn said. “Not great, not terrible. It’s good. It’s not an issue.”
The White Sox’ offense has faced issues all season, and the group was completely overmatched by Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija at U.S. Cellular Field.
Even though the Sox have been playing better baseball of late, the offense still ranks last in the American League with 177 runs scored.
“I don’t think we’ve had more than one guy hot in the lineup at a time, maybe two,” Dunn said. “Offensively, we’ve been pretty much terrible all year.”
The 33-year-old slugger finally heated up on the Sox’ last road trip, going 8-for-25 with 4 home runs and 10 RBI.
Now, bad back or no bad back, Dunn has returned to the freezer.
“I’ve always been kind of a streaky guy that will be horrible for a couple weeks then have one or two months to kind of carry everything,” Dunn said. “I’m kind of used to that now.
“I’ve just got to get on base more, and that’s something that I’m not doing right now at all. That’s something that I need to do. Other than that, I’m not too worried.”
Green light:Chris Sale wanted to make his scheduled start against the Boston Red Sox last Wednesday, but he told manager Robin Ventura his throwing (left) shoulder was sore.The White Sox scratched Sale, but the ace left-hander will be back on the mound Tuesday night against the Cubs. Sale#146;s happy he spoke up.#147;Not only was it good for my shoulder, but my elbow feels great too not throwing for a few days,#148; Sale said. #147;My body feels better, so hopefully this will last for the rest of the season.#148;Sale, who has never started against the Cubs, is 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA at the Cell this season.#147;Certain players feel better at certain places,#148; Ventura said. #147;I don#146;t know. I#146;m glad he is. It#146;s a tough place to pitch. It just shows how good he is.#148;Mystery ailment:Tyler Flowers was back in the White Sox#146; lineup Monday after sitting out the weekend series against Miami with back spasms. Flowers also missed some time late in spring training with back pain.#147;It#146;s not as bad as what it was in spring,#148; Flowers said. #147;I have no idea what#146;s causing it. I don#146;t have any signs of it from spring. Nothing in particular happened again. I just kind of woke up with it and I had a hard time moving a few days ago.#148;