Sox can't take advantage of Peavy's gem

Jake Peavy overlooked this ominous fact — the White Sox had five players in Saturday night's starting lineup batting .203 or less.

And Peavy didn't mention this one — the visiting Red Sox had six players in their starting lineup batting .301 or better.

That stacks up as quite the mismatch, but Peavy was actually blaming himself following a 1-0 loss to Boston at U.S. Cellular Field.

“I just hate that we came out on the wrong side of it,” Peavy said after pitching his second straight complete game. “I wish I could have done a little bit more and kept that run off the board, give us a chance.”

That's a nice sentiment, and yet another example of Peavy's value on the field and in the clubhouse.

But seriously, Peavy did all he could and more.

“For us, Jake's been pitching like that all year,” manager Robin Ventura said after the White Sox dropped their third straight to the Red Sox and fifth game overall. “It's unfair for you to expect that every time he goes out, but he just continues to impress and pitch brilliantly.

“That's the frustrating part. You get a pitching performance like that and don't take advantage of it.”

Ventura gave equal credit to Peavy's counterpart, Boston left-hander Jon Lester, and it was well deserved.

But when you look at some of those White Sox batting averages — Tyler Flowers, .133, Gordon Beckham, .153, Brent Morel, .178, Dayan Viciedo, .188, Alexei Ramirez, .205, even Adam Dunn, .224, you feel sorry for Peavy.

You also feel sorry for Paul Konerko, who had 2 doubles while hiking his batting average to .383.

Much like last year, the Sox' lineup is loaded with holes.

You've got Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski (.328), and Alex Rios is having a nice season at .314, but that's about it.

The White Sox seemed to have an early plan, and they made Lester throw 32 pitches in the first inning.

But after drawing a two-out walk, Dunn pulled up at third base when Konerko followed with his first double and that was as close as the White Sox got to crossing the plate.

They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.

“You can look back and see little things where you had opportunities,” Ventura said. “But tip your hat to Lester for getting out of it.”

Peavy, meanwhile, allowed just 4 hits.

Ryan Sweeney led off the fourth with a broken-bat bloop double that Beckham nearly caught in short right field.

After Morel made a nice defensive play at third base, gloving a Dustin Pedroia line drive, Adrian Gonzalez singled to score Sweeney.

“I'm pleased with the way I performed, but at the same time losing's losing,” Peavy said. “I don't care how you lose, it's just tough to get beat. I've just to make a better pitch to Gonzalez there. I made a lot of good pitches to him most of the night.

“That's who he is. You make a mistake to him, he's going to make you pay. He got on top of a ball and got a big hit for them. You can say you did an OK job, you had a quality start. But at the end of the day, I'm at a point of my career where I want to win. My team needed me to do a little bit more than I did tonight and it didn't happen.”

sgregor@dailyherald.com