Extra painful: Sox drop a tough one to Detroit in 10 innings
When boiling down the White Sox's exasperating season, let the last three games be your guide.
On Wednesday, the Sox went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and lost to the Rockies 3-0 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
On Thursday, they traveled to first-place Cleveland for a makeup game, hit 5 home runs in the first five innings and rolled to an 8-2 win.
Opening a three-game series at last-place Detroit Friday night, the White Sox's total offense through the first six innings was a pair of Elvis Andrus singles.
Trailing 2-0 in the eighth, Jose Abreu delivered a 2-run double with two outs.
That was it, and the Tigers, sparked by Liam Hendriks' throwing error in the 10th inning, came away with a 3-2 win.
Down. Up. Down. That's been White Sox baseball this year.
At this stage of the season, each loss is going to be particularly painful. This one probably felt even worse to the Sox.
Trailing the Twins 3-0 Friday night, the Guardians rallied for a 4-3 win and now lead the White Sox by 4 games in the AL Central.
"Their pitcher, he threw good," acting White Sox manager Miguel Cairo said after Detroit starter Matt Manning pitched 7 scoreless innings. "It was a good game. The bottom line is we got 2 runs. We didn't score enough."
Be it Cairo or regular manager Tony La Russa, who is not in Detroit as he recovers from a heart issue, that's been a familiar refrain.
"I think they thought they were going to come in and get some easy wins and we didn't like that, so we're going to fight back," Manning said.
The Tigers could have taken the lead in the eighth inning, but Javy Baez was thrown out at the plate by Sox reliever Joe Kelly trying to score from third base on a strikeout pitch in the dirt.
Lucas Giolito started for the White Sox and allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks while lasting only 4⅓ innings.
The gravity of the loss was not lost on the Sox's right-hander.
"We're in a position where we have to win a lot of games in a short period of time, regardless of how Cleveland's playing or how Minnesota's playing," Giolito told reporters. "That really is the focus. We have to come prepared to win every single day for each game here down the stretch. A tough loss in extra innings. It is what it is and we move to tomorrow."
Maybe the White Sox win the final two against Detroit and keep rolling when the Guardians come to Guaranteed Rate Field for three games next week. That's a tough ask for this team, but flickering hope is still alive.
"If we win, it will all settle up," Hendriks said. "If we win more than most, if we win every series, we have a good chance and that's all that matters. It's never too late until we are eliminated. So, yeah, let's stop saying it's too late because it's not too late until we are eliminated."