Defensive disaster as 5 errors lead to White Sox blowout loss

The White Sox played their worst defensive game in over four years Tuesday night, and the end result was predictable.

"You play that way defensively, you really don't give yourself a chance," manager Robin Ventura said after the Sox made 5 errors in an 11-2 loss to the A's at U.S. Cellular Field.

The White Sox last made 5 errors in a game on July 7, 2010, against the Angels.

Third baseman Marcus Semien had 3 errors and Oakland cashed in with 5 unearned runs.

"You know what, you just have to move on," Semien said. "There are some plays I should have made, I didn't make them. We had a tough night tonight, so that's it."

The game was still relatively close until Semien's third fielding miscue in the ninth inning, and Oakland scored 5 runs to blow the game open.

"Bad night," Ventura said. "We've seen Marcus make plays. You want to chalk it up to it's a bad night. They're up here and you try to get that experience and get it out of your system and play better. That's a part of being up here. There have been guys that have been a long time that had nights like that."

Konerko update:

Sidelined since last Wednesday with a broken bone in his left hand, Paul Konerko remains out indefinitely, although the White Sox' retiring captain still hopes to play this season before heading into retirement.

"I'm going by how painful it is for him," manager Robin Ventura said. "He's going to let me know when he can start swinging and doing things. Right now, we're just treating it as much as you can and getting it back to a point where he can start swinging a bat."

Plate controversy:

Joe Torre, major-league baseball's executive vice president, has reportedly instructed umpires to immediately ease up on Rule 7:13, which was designed to prevent collisions at home plate while protecting catchers.

In an Aug. 13 game at San Francisco, the Giants' Gregor Blanco was thrown out by about 6 feet at home plate, but the call was overturned after White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers was ruled to have blocked the plate.

Manager Robin Ventura was ejected from the game and called Rule 7:13 a "joke."

On Tuesday, Ventura agreed with Torre's call to relax the rule.

"I understand protecting the catchers," Ventura said. "I think most of their injuries and things like that probably come from foul tips instead of actual plays at the plate. You don't want guys targeting catchers coming into the plate, you get that. But in the end, when you get a guy out and you make the play and everything's done effectively, you want the guy to be out."