The unfortunate starting pitcher trend continues
For the third game in a row, a White Sox starting pitcher who had an excellent first outing this year had a miserable second one. This time Davis Martin took an even bigger fall from grace, giving up seven earned runs on nine hits, including homers by Kerry Carpenter (his third in two days) and Spencer Torkelson.
Were the good first outings mirages caused by facing the Angels? Better hope not.
The game started out in promising fashion, as a Luis Robert Jr. walk, Andrew Benintendi single and Andrew Vaughn double off Reece Olson in the first provided a run and men on second and third with one out. But one of the two most important Sox at-bats of the day followed, with Nick Maton striking out on a changeup, after which Lenyn Sosa grounded out.
The Tigers had a similar situation in the bottom half — one in, runners at second and third — but Andy Ibañez drove in a second run instead. It was just a dribbler toward third, but as every coach ever has said, “If you put the ball in play, good things can happen.”
The Tigers added two in the second and three in the third to take a 7-1 lead. That said, the White Sox had a chance to get back into the game in the fifth when Korey Lee (three hits on the day) and Jacob Amaya both squeaked through opposite-field grounders for singles and a flustered Olson walked Andrew Vaughn on four pitches to load the bases with no outs.
But then came the other most important Sox trip to the plate:
Robert hit a 1-1 sinker into a double play, scoring a run but ending the threat, after which the Sox were never again to make a challenge.
If you want to look on the bright side, the Sox made a couple of good outfield plays, including a great grab by Andrew Benintendi that ended the threat in the first.
The other was an even bigger surprise, an excellent relay cutting down Trey Sweeney as he tried to stretch a double.
Plus, the beleaguered White Sox bullpen did fine for three innings.
Otherwise there was a little too much White Soxdom (or White Sox dumb), such as Brooks Baldwin being picked off first by the catcher while down 7-2, and Lee for some mysterious reason not covering the plate on a force at home.
The loss stretches the current losing streak to four, a mere pittance by 2024 standards, and runs the season record to 2-6, which is right in line with last season’s winning percentage.
The final game of the series will be at 12:40 p.m. Central tomorrow, with Martín Pérez trying to break the second-start curse against Jackson Jobe, who gave up three runs in four innings against the Mariners his first time out.