The White Sox dropped the first game of the doubleheader thanks to acute failures by Lucas Giolito, accompanied by a lackluster White Sox offense. Another four-run inning sank the White Sox in Game 2, but it required a whole bunch of weaknesses on the White Sox roster coalescing into something bigger than themselves (and also a lackluster offense).
The chief flaws:
A bullpen built on weak contact: Jimmy Cordero gave up a leadoff single to Max Schrock, on a 230-foot pop-up to right, and Evan Marshall gave up a an RBI single to Paul Goldschmidt and a two-run homer to Tyler O'Neill on pitches that were pretty well-executed. That bullpen met...
Weak defense: On the popped up single allowed by Cordero, Nomar Mazara didn't get a good break on it, and he certainly didn't close on it. Schrock's single was almost erased on a double play ball, but Danny Mendick doesn't quite turn a double play as fast as Nick Madrigal, and Harrison Bader took advantage of the extra fraction of a second to beat the return. James McCann didn't quite get in position on a Cordero sinker in the dirt, which allowed both runners to advance before Matt Carpenter's RBI groundout and the game-tying single to Goldschmidt.
The result was a hard-to-watch four-run fifth that the White Sox couldn't overcome. Just like the first game, the Sox only came up with three hits. Two of them happened to leave the yard the opposite way, so at least that was an improvement. Luis Robert hit a 435-foot bomb to right center, while Eloy Jiménez's most modest fly landed in the Kraft Kave for two more runs.
But the White Sox's lack of plate discipline thwarted other attempts at building rallies. You had Yoán Moncada drawing a 2-0 count, then swinging at three straight pitches out of the zone. Moncada seemed to learn from that mistake, drawing a walk in his next at-bat. Then José Abreu swung at a 3-0 changeup out of the zone and tapped it back to the mound.
And then there was the ninth, when Eloy Jiménez singled off Andrew Miller. James McCann worked a full count to make him one pitch away from bringing the tying run to the plate ... except he chased a fastball up and away for the K. The Sox didn't have another threat in them.
The White Sox fanned 10 times against two walks in seven innings. Their inability to let pitchers get themselves in trouble makes it very easy for the them to disappear for days at a time.
Bullet points:
*Matt Foster opened for the White Sox and threw two easy innings, getting four groundouts and two strikeouts.
*Codi Heuer had to pitch around a Moncada throwing error in the third, and Zack Burdi gave up a solo shot to Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth.
*Hitless days: Tim Anderson (0-for-6); Mazara (0-for-5); Moncada, Abreu and Yasmani Grandal (0-for-5 with a walk);
*The Sox have been swept in both doubleheaders they played. This one hurt more.
