White Sox still looking for positives after 5-2 loss to Phillies

There are now 19 games in the books, and the early read on the White Sox's season remains depressing.

Looking for their first two-game win streak of the year on Wednesday afternoon, which would have given them their first series win of the year, the Sox got neither.

Instead it was another uninspired loss, this one 5-2 to the Phillies at Guaranteed Rate Field.

As they head out on a challenging road trip to Tampa Bay and Toronto, the White Sox are 7-12 and going nowhere fast.

Frustrated?

"Not on my part," manager Pedro Grifol said. "You know, every team I've ever been on, or a part of, you have streaks like this. Whether it's at the start, middle, end, I'm not frustrated with these guys. I trust these guys.

"I trust the work they are putting in. We just have to keep going, keep battling."

Mike Clevinger started for the Sox in the series finale and didn't put up much of a fight.

The right-hander's outing was tarnished by a 44-pitch third inning and Clevinger never returned for the fourth.

"He was fighting me to go back out," Grifol said. "After a 44-pitch inning, I'm not going to send him back out."

Clevinger, who gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk over 3 innings while throwing 75 pitches, felt like he had decent stuff.

"It was good," Clevinger said. "I think two missed pitches, and they go over the wall. The other ones were kind of good pitches that they either blooped in there or were hit on the ground and they were just too slow. They executed on those two bad pitches and then the fastball command was a little off today."

A major problem over the past few games has been offensive lapses.

On Wednesday, Andrew Vaughn hit his first home run of the season, a 2-run shot in the first inning. The White Sox did not score the rest of the way.

In Game 2 of a doubleheader Tuesday, Jake Burger's 3-run homer in the first inning was it for the offense but starter Lucas Giolito and three relievers made it stand up with a combined 1-hit shutout.

In Game 1, the Sox scored all of their runs in the third inning during a 7-4 loss to Philadelphia.

In Sunday's loss to the Orioles, the White Sox took a 4-0 lead in the first inning and wound up losing 8-4.

"These guys aren't going up there trying to make outs," Grifol said. "They are preparing and they are going up there to compete and it's not happening. Just as it happened the last three days or whatever it is, you know it will turn around. That's all I can say. It will turn around.

"I think when you don't score the runs, and you don't produce like we are capable of producing or we want to produce, there's always some pressing going on. That's when you've got to kind of tone it back a little bit. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we have to just be a little more disciplined in the strike zone and shrink it and not be afraid to hit with two strikes."