A staggering loss for Sale, Sox
Chris Sale had every right to point fingers and distribute blame throughout the White Sox' postgame clubhouse Friday night.
After all, the Sox' ace starter had nothing to show for another brilliant outing, this one a shutout of the Rangers over 8 innings at U.S. Cellular Field.
Not only did Sale allowed only 2 hits, he struck out 14 while joining Hall of Famers Randy Johnson (1998) and Pedro Martinez (1999) as the only pitchers in major-league history to have 12 or more strikeouts in five straight games.
"It's an honor to get my name mentioned with them, but it's something more for you guys and friends and family," Sale said. "I'm here for one reason and that's winning ballgames. All the other stuff is more of a distraction than anything, really."
Sale deserved to win after exiting with a 1-0 lead, but the Rangers got to closer David Robertson in the ninth inning and rallied for a 2-1 win.
The White Sox (28-38) have lost eight straight, mainly because they are offensively challenged.
When asked about the difficulty of pitching on a team that ranks last in the American League in runs scored, Sale lost his cool.
"Easy now," he said. "That's kind of a crappy question to ask, really. You think I'm going to say something bad about one of my teammates, you're dead wrong. We have a bunch of fighters in here. We have guys that come in here every single day and play as hard as they can, plain and simple.
"Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Tonight it didn't, and it hasn't for a few games. We're a team, we're a family and we're going to move forward. This is going to stop. It is. We're going to win a game. And from that point forward we're going to win some more games."
If the Sox couldn't win Friday, it's hard to imagine them winning at all.
Manager Robin Ventura said he thought about sending Sale back out for the ninth inning, but the combination of a high pitch count (111) and the normally reliable Robertson made the switch rather routine.
But Robertson issued a one-out walk to Shin-Soo Choo and Elvis Andrus followed with a single. Joey Gallo struck out and Prince Felder was intentionally walked to load the bases before pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland delivered a 2-run single to stick the White Sox with a staggering loss.
"As soon as (Moreland) swung I knew it was a hit," Robertson said after blowing his fourth save try in 17 opportunities. "It's frustrating. I feel awful because with how well Sale pitched tonight and I went out there and blew it. I'm supposed to pick the guys up right here, that's what I'm here for, and I couldn't nail it down."
Tyler Flowers' solo home run in the fifth inning accounted for the Sox' lone run.
"We had some opportunities," Ventura said after the White Sox went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 baserunners. "There were some chances to score some runs and we didn't do it. You start looking at the things that are going on, we need to be able to score some more runs for (Sale)."
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