Bats go quiet in White Sox's 3-0 loss to Rockies
Miguel Cairo can only do so much.
As the White Sox's acting manager in place of Tony La Russa, Cairo challenged an underachieving team, gave them a needed jolt of energy and won 10 of his first 14 games.
In Wednesday afternoon's 3-0 loss to the Rockies at Guaranteed Rate Field, Cairo did some barking at home-plate umpire Nate Tomlinson but the Sox's bats failed to bite.
While losing a game in the standings to the first-place Guardians, the White Sox went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. They head to Cleveland for an important makeup game Thursday 4 games off the pace.
"We didn't hit," Cairo said. "We didn't get the key hit. We just didn't hit with men on base. That happens. Sometimes you are going to get hits. Sometimes you don't. Today we didn't.
"We've got to move on. We've got a big game against Cleveland tomorrow and that's where we have to concentrate."
The White Sox play three more games against the Guardians next week at Guaranteed Rate Field and they're reaching the point where they'll have to win all of them to catch Cleveland.
"It's obviously extremely important," said Dylan Cease, who started against Colorado and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while laboring through 5 innings. "I think we're just going to prepare, not try to put too much pressure on ourselves, but realize it's definitely crunch time.
"At the end of the day, we all know what the stakes are. So you can either let that get to you or let that fuel you."
While the Sox were definitely running on empty Wednesday, they still have 19 games on the schedule.
Shortstop Elvis Andrus thinks there's time to make a run at the Guardians.
"We know we've still got plenty of games ahead, especially against Cleveland," he said. "We've just got to continue to win series. I think the last thing we want to do is put more pressure on ourselves. We've still got to go out there and have fun. That's what we've been doing the last couple of weeks."
Lucas Giolito was on schedule to start against the Guardians Thursday, but he's being pushed back a day and Lance Lynn gets the ball for the White Sox.
In 10 starts since the all-star break, Lynn is 5-2 with a 2.05 ERA. Giolito is 4-4 with a 6.04 ERA over the same stretch.
"Those guys, they're not going to give up," Cairo said. "See what you did wrong, what you did right, move on. We just have to have a short memory. Move on with a positive mind. I like to stay positive. Negative people, I don't want nothing negative."