Giolito has control, but fellow Sox starters have already issued 39 walks

He's not even a month into his first season as a major-league manager, but the White Sox's Pedro Grifol already has a routine for the rare day off.

Along with his coaching staff, he goes to work.

"You just go back, you replay things and you look at things, you look at video," Grifol said. "That's part of what we do. Our job is to continue to work and just continue to get these guys in the position where we can have sustained success. So we'll look at video, we'll look at the hitting off our offensive video, we'll study opposing pitchers. Just move forward."

Scheduled to play the Phillies Monday night at Guaranteed Rate, Grifol and the reeling Sox got some unscheduled free time when the game was postponed due to inclement weather.

It will be made up as part of a straight doubleheader Tuesday starting at 3:10 p.m. Game 2 will begin approximately 30-45 minutes following the conclusion of the opener, but not before 6:10 p.m.

There is little doubt Grifol, pitching coach Ethan Katz and bullpen coach Curt Hasler spent a good chunk of Monday trying to figure out why White Sox pitchers are having so much trouble throwing strikes.

"Just in general, walks will really kill you," ace starter Dylan Cease said Sunday after another wild loss.

While blowing a 4-0 lead and falling to the Orioles 8-4, the Sox issued 7 walks. Cease had 5 in 6 innings, the main reason he wound up throwing a career-high 113 pitches in such a short outing.

While losing 2 of 3 over the weekend, the White Sox walked 26 Baltimore hitters. That's their highest total in a three-game series since 1996.

"We've just got to clean it up a little bit," Cease said.

A lot is more like it.

In major-league statistics heading into Monday's play, only the Athletics (86) issued more walks than the Sox (81).

"We've got to minimize baserunners," Grifol said. "They (Orioles) had a lot of traffic the last three games, but we also had leads in three games."

The White Sox's pitching staff is loaded with experienced arms that have shown an ability to throw strikes in past seasons.

This year, Lucas Giolito is the only Sox starter who has been able to command his pitches.

Cease, Lance Lynn, Michael Kopech and Mike Clevinger have combined for 39 walks over 70⅓ innings.

The bullpen hasn't been much better, allowing 39 walks in 69⅔ innings.

There have some defensive issues and offensive lapses early in the season, but the number of walks is the biggest problem for a White Sox team that is 6-10 and still looking for its first two-game winning streak.

"Quite frankly, I don't know," catcher Yasmani Grandal said about the early wildness. "Obviously, we need to do a better job staying in the strike zone and attacking guys. The good thing is it's happening now and not later in the year. We are going to address that early instead of late.

"Continue working on it, we'll start looking at numbers. We'll start looking at what it is, whether it's delivery, it's whatever it is. Hopefully, we can figure it out sooner rather than later."