Floyd struggles as Sox' winning streak ends at 9

The White Sox' offense stepped up and did most of the heavy lifting during an impressive streak of nine straight wins and a 13-1 surge.

The Sox' bats were in attack mode again Saturday, but 8 runs was not enough.

There have been some warning signs in the starting rotation the past few weeks, but all of the home runs and clutch hitting served to mask the trouble.

Outside of Chris Sale, Sox starters have struggled to pitch past the fifth or sixth inning and control the game.

The trend continued in a 10-8 loss to the Mariners in 12 innings at U.S. Cellular Field.

Starter Gavin Floyd was way up in the strike zone again, and the right-hander lasted just 5 innings and allowed 5 runs on 9 hits (4 home runs).

Not only was it Floyd's fourth straight subpar outing, it forced manager Robin Ventura to tap an already tired bullpen early and often.

When Saturday's game finally ended, the White Sox had used all seven relief pitchers, and Jose Quintana — who has been filling in for injured starter John Danks — had to come in to get the last two outs.

“I was up in the zone today,” said Floyd, who has allowed 26 runs in 19 innings over his last 4 starts. “I got hurt when I was getting behind. I left the ball up a lot. I've got to get back to getting down in the zone and getting ahead.”

For as bad as he was, Floyd left the game leading 6-5. But Seattle scored 3 runs off Jesse Crain in the eighth inning to pull in front 8-7.

Dayan Viciedo hit a clutch solo home run in the bottom half to pull the Sox into a tie, and it looked like they'd keep the wining streak going.

“We played hard and did the right things,” said Gordon Beckham, who had another big game with 3 hits, a 2-run homer and 4 RBI. “They just had a little more today. We battled and had a chance to win it and just couldn't get it done.

“That's going to happen. You're not going to win every game.”

Especially if the starting pitching doesn't improve.

Manager Robin Ventura said he has no plans to make a change with Floyd, and there is a chance Danks could come off the disabled list and pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

Who knows? Maybe the rotation will start picking up the slack and lead the Sox on another extended winning streak.

“It has been nice,” Ventura said. “We've done a lot of good things. We plan on continuing. You can't win every game, but you know we are in every game, so that's the good news.

“We plan on being in games from here on out, too. It's just one of those games, and we'll come back tomorrow and do the same things we were doing all along.”

sgregor@dailyherald.com