For the second time this week, the White Sox lost 5-1 to an opponent that should have been overmatched, due in large part to an offense that was nonexistent outside of Danny Mendick.
This one was slightly different than Monday's downer in Detroit. Namely, the White Sox last played Wednesday, whereas the Cardinals hadn't played in more than two weeks, yet St. Louis looked far sharper. Dallas Keuchel probably can't chew them out twice in a week.
Lucas Giolito came out misfiring, issuing a leadoff walk and plunking consecutive batters on consecutive pitches, with the latter driving in a run. He also gave up three hits on 0-2 counts, including a two-run single by Dexter Fowler and an opposite-field RBI single to Andrew Knizner.
Giolito managed to last five innings, which at least spared the Sox bullpen on the front end of a doubleheader. But the Cardinals managed to tack another one due to shoddy defense. Giolito was slow to collect Dexter Fowler's nubber to the third-base side of the mound and beat the throw to first after a review. Four batters later, Fowler scored because José Abreu bobbled the exchange when he was attempting to flip a slow roller to a covering Giolito.
Abreu was charged with the error, but the good/bad news was it didn't matter. The White Sox only accounted for three hits in the game, and Danny Mendick provided two of them. He doubled to the right-center gap to lead off the third and came around to score on two productive outs for the Sox's only run.
Luis Robert provided the only other White Sox hit with his two-out double in the seventh.
Adam Wainwright pitched fairly well for St. Louis all things considered. His location wasn't pinpoint (three walks over five innings), but he didn't make mistakes with the curveball, and the White Sox spent the afternoon topping it. He recorded seven groundouts, including two double plays.
Bullet points:
*The Cardinals matched the Sox in the error column, with Matt Carpenter bouncing a throw from first that escaped Paul Goldschmidt. It came with two outs and nobody on, and Wainwright pitched around it.
*Eloy JIménez went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, and he was frozen by fastballs low and away both times.
*Ross Detwiler pitched for just the second time since Aug. 3, and both outings were low leverage. Here, he showed up with the Sox trailing by four in the sixth inning.
