Once again, Dunn doesn't get it done

How much longer can the White Sox continue to wait?

They've played 51 games, and they're still getting little or nothing from two of their most important hitters — Adam Dunn and Alex Rios.

In the process, the Sox continue to waste outstanding starting pitching while spinning their wheels attempting to reach the .500 mark.

No one has been more critical of Dunn this season than Dunn himself, but it's really starting to look like general manager Kenny Williams made a mistake signing the 31-year-old designated hitter/first baseman to a four-year, $56 million contract.

Sure, there have been some tape-measure home runs like the one Dunn hit Tuesday night at Texas following a weather delay that ran nearly 3 hours.

But those moments have been few and far between.

Over most of his first two months with the White Sox, Dunn has struck out at a staggering rate (61 times in 152 at-bats), and the left-handed slugger is still looking for his first hit of the season against a left-handed pitcher.

What a nice little segue into Wednesday's 2-1 loss to the Rangers.

With lefty C.J. Wilson starting for Texas, manager Ozzie Guillen wisely held Dunn out of the starting lineup.

But with the Sox making a late push in the eighth inning, Dunn came in to pinch hit for Brent Morel with runners on first and third and one out.

In an expected move, Rangers manager Ron Washington replaced right-handed relief pitcher Mark Lowe with veteran lefty Darren Oliver.

“When Adam is at the plate I don't care who's on the mound,” Guillen told reporters. “We're feeling very good and we're feeling that's the day he comes out of it. We feel good about this is the day he gets the hit. But he continues to struggle against lefties.”

Dunn managed to work the count to 3-2 against Oliver, but he went down swinging and is now 0-for-32 against left-handers on the season.

Dunn is batting .191 overall, and Rios is not much better at .206 after going 0-for-4 Wednesday and 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position.

In the seventh inning, Paul Konerko singled off Wilson to make it a 2-1 game and Rios came to the plate with runners on first and second and one out.

Lowe relieved Wilson and Rios grounded into a double play.

In the ninth, Rios came up with runners on first and second and one out and grounded into a fielder's choice out.

“With those few opportunities with (Rios and Dunn), we didn't get the big hit,” Guillen said. “Gavin (Floyd) and the rest of the guys pitched good. We had a few chances and we didn't get it done.”

Floyd was brilliant against one of the best hitting teams in baseball.

The right-hander allowed just 1 run on 3 hits in 7-plus innings, but Floyd (5-4) was stuck with another tough loss.

“We're all fighting out there,” Floyd told reporters. “Their pitcher (Wilson) pitched real well. They just had a couple innings where we were grinding it out trying to produce runs and it just didn't happen.”

sgregor@dailyherald.com