Rozner: White Sox's bad bullpen puts season in jeopardy

A bad bullpen doesn't just make a fan base sick.

It can get a lot of people fired.

Often enough it's the manager who pays the price, and in the case of the White Sox, Robin Ventura can't be feeling very secure right now.

The weekend in Kansas City was as bad as anything you'll ever see.

It began Friday night with starter Miguel Gonzalez throwing well and the Sox owning a 5-2 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.

Against a team with few threats in the lineup after injuries to Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas, relievers Dan Jennings, Matt Albers, Zach Duke and Nate Jones combined to give up 4 runs on 5 hits with a walk in 1⅔ innings.

The Royals won 7-5.

Saturday was much worse — maybe the worst ever — with the Sox taking a 7-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth after a nice start from Carlos Rodon.

But closer David Robertson began the ninth in a non-save situation and proceeded to allow 6 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in two-thirds of an inning, before Tommy Kahnle got credit for the blown save and the defeat, allowing a run on 2 hits with 2 walks.

According to ESPN, teams had won four times in 2,814 games since 2010 when trailing by 6 runs entering the bottom of the ninth.

So Chris Sale tried to heal a massive wound with a good start Sunday, giving up just 2 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings, but he threw 118 pitches and was on fumes when he departed with a 4-2 lead.

The rest was completely predictable.

Jones entered and with one out gave up a home run to Lorenzo Cain. Eric Hosmer doubled to right and the tying run was on second. Kendrys Morales walked and Paulo Orlando singled to load the bases.

It was so bad that with a 3-1 count against Brett Eibner, TV analyst Steve Stone said, “Throw one in the zone, maybe he'll hit it at somebody.”

It was not in the zone. Jones walked Eibner to tie the game and that was it for Jones.

He was replaced by Albers, who arrived with a tidy 17.36 ERA in his last 7 appearances after starting the year on fire. Cheslor Cuthbert singled to score Jarrod Dyson for a 5-4 lead and that was that.

Wade Davis breezed through a 1-2-3 ninth and the sweep was complete, with the Royals taking over first place from Cleveland.

Yeah, the Sox fell out of first place Saturday afternoon.

It was only two weeks ago that the Sox had a 5-game lead and the rest of the division looked like it was in big trouble, but now it's the South Siders in trouble.

The best bullpen in the majors in April has gone to pieces, and in the series in Kansas City the relievers had a 17.18 ERA with 7 walks and 15 hits in 7⅓ innings.

The Sox were outscored 15-1 from the seventh inning on against the Royals without Gordon, Moustakas and Sal Perez.

Good thing the first game of the series was rained out.

So now the heat is on Ventura, who can't feel good about answering the phone for the next few weeks, especially knowing the Sox have 25 games coming next against the Mets, Tigers, Nats, Royals, Tigers (again), Indians, Red Sox and Blue Jays.

But the reality is firing Ventura doesn't fix a wretched bullpen and it would only put the focus on Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn, who thought they had a strong relief corps in place.

It certainly seemed that way in April.

But the front office can only work with the budget offered and under the marching orders given by ownership, which is spend like a midmarket franchise and try to win every year without ever busting it apart and rebuilding.

It's a middling approach that makes it very difficult to put a great team on the field. You grab a guy here and collect a guy there and you hope you catch lightning in a bottle.

It's a familiar story on the South Side.

It's not impossible to win this way, but it's very difficult to win consistently, year after year, with this method.

But this is where the Sox are, with the Jimmy Rollins, Jerry Sands and Matt Albers of the world, hoping they can get lucky long enough to compete for an entire season.

It's not the best formula.

So while Ventura has his faults and can carry his share of blame, he doesn't have the fastball to get anybody out late in a game, though at this point he might consider giving it a try.

He's certainly got nothing left to lose.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.