Chicago White Sox absorb another lopsided loss at Oakland
Returning from a five-game road trip on April 5 for their first homestand of the season, the Chicago White Sox's offense was a mixed bag.
On one hand, the Sox showed up at Guaranteed Rate ranked first in the major leagues in home runs with 14.
"The home run ball can help you," White Sox manager Rick Renteria.
That is true, but major-league teams that try living by the homer are typically watching the playoffs from home.
"I think about 80 percent of our runs have been off homers (through the first five games)," Sox hitting coach Todd Steverson said. "We can't rely on them."
Steverson's early fears quickly materialized, and the White Sox headed into Tuesday night's game at Oakland on a 3-for-52 (.058) slide with runners in scoring position over their last seven games.
The trend continued in a 10-2 loss to the A's at the Coliseum. The Sox were 1-for-9 with RISP while absorbing their second straight lopsided loss at Oakland.
The A's were up 10-0 before Yoan Moncada hit a 2-run homer in the eighth inning. Miguel Gonzalez (0-3) had his third straight forgettable start in as many tries, allowing 8 runs on 8 hits in 3 innings.
Playing in the worst weather conditions in memory over the first three weeks of the season probably has hampered the White Sox's clutch hitting, but Renteria said good teams come through no matter what the temperature.
"Whether it's early in the season or you go deep into postseason, it gets cold out there," Renteria said. "You want to be able to learn how to deal with those things."
Approach has been the much bigger issue. Instead of shortening up and trying to score runners from second and third with singles, one Sox hitter after another has been taking big swings and striking out.
"It's something in batting practice and hitting meetings we talk about, approaches with guys on third and not trying to do too much or whatever," designated hitter Matt Davidson said. "It's something that really good teams do well, and that's something that we want to do well, too. We did it the first couple games, and we've got to get back to it."