After promising surge, White Sox are reeling again
The White Sox' backs are up against the wall. Again.
After going 5-1 on a road trip to Milwaukee and Oakland and returning home last Monday with a win over Cleveland ace Corey Kluber, the Sox looked like a team that was finally coming together.
How quickly it has fallen back apart.
As the Sox showed again in Sunday's 8-1 loss to the Twins at U.S. Cellular Field, they are not doing anything well.
They're not hitting, not pitching, not playing good defense, nada.
"Extremely frustrating," Adam LaRoche said. "We are not just getting beat, we are beating ourselves and making good pitchers look great. It's embarrassing. We just need some good things to happen to get some momentum going.
"We've been behind too many times in ballgames, missed opportunities early. Fortunately we've hung in there because we've come back and won quite a few of those games, but you can't rely on that all the time. We need to start doing it early because right now we are not doing it at all."
The blowout loss to Minnesota was the fifth in the White Sox' last six games, and at 19-22 they are tied with Cleveland for last place in the AL Central.
"You're able to gain a little momentum from where we started and it ended not well," manager Robin Ventura said. "So you've got to find it when you go on the road. Keep grinding. These guys just need to find a way to scratch across a couple runs and make it a clean game."
The Sox' bats slumbered through the entire homestand. Jose Abreu's solo home run in the fourth inning Sunday was it for the offense.
As for playing clean, center fielder Adam Eaton dropped Joe Mauer's routine line drive for a two-base error in the top of the fourth. The Twins wound up scoring 4 runs in the fourth to break the game open.
"Big inning there I created," Eaton said. "Just a tough ball. It's kind of knuckling, but the play needs to be made. Everyone knows we're giving 110 percent here, we're battling out butts off day in and day out, and sometimes the cards don't fall our way."
The White Sox now have to deal with a rough schedule that features 11 games in 11 days, including a makeup doubleheader Thursday at Baltimore.
Maybe getting away from the Cell for a stretch will swing the Sox back to playing watchable baseball.
"That can be a good thing," LaRoche said. "I don't think anybody wants an off-day right now. No, we want to get out there and get back on track. I'm not worried about that."
If the Sox' poor play continues on the road trip, it is going to be time to start worrying about job security.
"We've been on kind of a funky wave," Eaton said. "We were high with the 6 (straight wins) and now we're lower now losing two series. We're looking forward to Toronto and having a good series there and hopefully we can rebound nicely and start getting things going."
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scouting report
White Sox vs. Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre
TV: Comcast SportsNet today and Wednesday; WPWR Tuesday
Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Pitching matchups: The Sox' Hector Noesi (0-3) vs. Drew Hutchison today at 6:07 p.m.; John Danks (2-4) vs. R.A. Dickey (2-5) Tuesday at 6:07 p.m.; Jeff Samardzija (4-2) vs. Marco Estrada (1-3) Wednesday at 11:37 a.m.
At a glance: The White Sox played their best baseball of the season on their last road trip, winning two of three at Milwaukee and sweeping a three-game series at Oakland. Noesi makes his first start since May 9, when he had to exit in the second inning after being hit in the back by a line drive. Noesi pitches in place of Carlos Rodon, who is being handled carefully in his rookie season. The Sox were 5-2 vs. Toronto last season (3-1 on the road).
Next: Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, Thursday doubleheader
- Scot Gregor