It is not a great time to be a White Sox fan right now, and with every mounting loss, it gets harder and harder.
The White Sox dropped a winnable ballgame this evening, as a late home run off the bat of Issac Paredes did the Southsiders in.
Lucas Giolito started the game for the White Sox, and once again, delivered a quality outing against one of the best offenses in baseball. He worked into the seventh inning for the second consecutive start, this time falling just one out short of completing seven innings for the second time in a row. Over his 6.2 innings, Giolito didn’t walk any Rays’ hitters and struck out six, and one of the two “earned” runs he gave up was certainly more of a product of the White Sox’ defensive miscues than his performance on the mound.
Giolito was relieved by Reynaldo Lopez, who completed 1.1 scoreless innings before handing the ball over to Kendall Graveman in the ninth. That’s when Paredes struck, putting the Rays in the lead for good.
The offense was paced by home runs from Andrew Vaughn and Jake Burger, but outside of a late rally that was ended by a Luis Robert popout, there wasn’t much to talk about on the offensive side of the ball once again.
The highlight of today’s game was no doubt Pedro Grifol’s ejection in the first inning. After Vaughn’s home run, Rays’ starter Zach Eflin hit Luis Robert. Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson – who ejected Grifol in Thursday’s game as well – rung Grifol once again after Grifol argued Hudson’s bench warnings. At least someone showed some fire in this one.
With the loss, the White Sox fall to 7-20.
W: Colin Poche (2-0) | L: Kendall Graveman (1-2) | S: Kevin Kelly (1)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap:
Pitching Recap:
White Sox Scoring Recap:
- Bottom 1st: Andrew Vaughn homers (2) to left center field. 1-1 Tie.
- Bottom 2nd: Jake Burger homers (7) to left field. 2-1 White Sox.
Notable Performances
Lucas Giolito: 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
Lucas Giolito has received a lot of criticism from fans, but over his past two starts – both against the Rays – he has worked into the seventh inning and taken some much-needed heat off of the White Sox’ middle relievers. He has posted a 3.95 ERA in his two starts against the best offense in baseball, and outside of one poor start against the Pirates, has really turned in quality performances thus far in the season.
Jake Burger: 2-for-4, HR (7), RBI, R
Jake Burger is going to continue to get appreciation for his work at the plate until someone else steps up and shows a better plate approach than his right now.
Other Game Highlights
Next Matchup
The White Sox will try and prevent this losing skid from hitting 10 games tomorrow evening, and they will send Lance Lynn to the mound against Yonny Chirinos in order to get it done.
The game will begin at 6:10 PM CT over on NBC Sports Chicago.
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Featured Image: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports