A month ago, Pedro Grifol made a vow to reporters after the White Sox's lopsided loss to the Rockies:
“When you give up five runs in the first inning and four in the fourth or fifth, and you’re down 9-1, that’s kind of what happens,” Grifol said. “And is it acceptable? No. But that’s what happens. … It’s unacceptable, because our job is to start the game and finish it with energy. And I will address that.”
Today, the White Sox fell behind 8-1 through three innings en route to a 10-run loss to a Nationals team that might lose 90 games, and it doesn't appear that Grifol's efforts have amounted to much.
The left side of the White Sox infield committed errors in each of the first two innings to fall behind 4-1, and then Jesse Scholtens served up a grand slam to Lane Thomas in the third that pretty much sealed the deal. The Nationals would go on to score in each of the first five innings.
Conversely, the White Sox were limited to six hits, and each of their three runs scored on outs. Gavin Sheets delivered a sac fly in the first inning to score Yoán Moncada after he walked and moved to third on Andrew Vaughn's double. In the eighth, Vaughn and Sheets notched run-scoring groundouts. The charm of the productive out dissipates when it's part of an 0-for-12 showing with runners in scoring position.
The chips were stacked against the White Sox from the start, because if they're not a great bet to cover three innings after six strong from Jose Ureña, then they shouldn't be counted upon to cover all the innings with Michael Kopech opening.
Kopech should've been unscored upon in the first inning, even if it was characteristically messy. He gave up a leadoff double to CJ Abrams and walked Thomas, but Carlos Pérez cut down Thomas at second on the back end of a double steal, and Abrams should've been out when Yoán Moncada made a nice pick on a chopper to third and a strong throw home.
But he wasn't, because although Pérez made an accurate, low throw to Tim Anderson for an easy tag at third on a retreating Abrams, Anderson whiffed on it, and Abrams came home to score the first unearned run.
A second unearned run crossed the plate in the second on Tanner Banks' watch. He gave up a double to Luis Garcia, who scored on Ildemaro Vargas' single. Banks rebounded to get a flyout to center, followed by Jacob Young's bouncer to the left side.
It might have developed slowly enough to make a double play an impossibility, and Moncada couldn't decide whether to smother it aggressively or wait back for the safe hop fast enough. The ball bounded through him for another error, and another Abrams double made it a 4-1 game.
Scholtens then came in as the bulk guy. He was able to strand the bases loaded in the second, but when he loaded the bases in the third on a single, hit by pitch and walk, the opposite happened. Scholtens hung a curveball, and Thomas put a big hurt on it.
Bullet points:
*Kopech topped out at 94.4 mph on his fastball, throwing his slider on nine of 14 pitches, so he's getting further away from where he needs to be, even in shorter bursts.
*Scholtens has a 6.37 ERA in the second half, thanks to 11 homers and 70 hits over 53⅔ innings.
*Trayce Thompson replaced Luis Robert Jr. once the score got out of hand, and made a nice diving catch after initially breaking the wrong way on Keibert Ruiz's fly to center.
*The White Sox are now 0-6 in September series, but at least they're not having the worst day in Chicago sports.
