The White Sox's losing streak is now one of franchise-record length, and unlike the last several nights where they blew a multitude of multi-run leads, they left very little doubt about this one.
Jake Woodford gave up a homer to Jarren Duran on his second pitch of the game, so there wasn't a minute of 159 minutes the White Sox played tonight that they weren't trailing.
They trailed 3-0 after two, they trailed 7-0 after four, and they trailed 11-0 entering the bottom of the sixth, at which point Lenyn Sosa was at least able to end Tanner Houck's no-hit bid with a single, and then the shutout when Zach DeLoach doubled him home on his first career hit.
The following inning, Andrew Vaughn went yard to end Houck's streak without allowing a homer at 67 innings, which also meant that despite seven otherwise excellent frames, Houck exited this game with a worse ERA (1.91) than he started it (1.85). Who's the loser now?
Obviously the White Sox, who once again set a season high for hits allowed with 24, after yielding 23 to Milwaukee last Friday. In their defense, the Red Sox had an extra inning to do it. Their last two singles came off Danny Mendick, who induced a double play with a 35.1 mph eephus pitch to escape as the only White Sox pitcher unscored upon tonight. So again, who's the loser now?
Thoroughly the White Sox, who had never lost 14 games in a row until this year, the 124th year of their existence.
Bullet points:
*Jake Woodford wore it for as long as possible, giving up seven runs on 10 hits (two homers) and three walks over 87 pitches.
*Tim Hill gave up six hits in a relief appearance for the second time in a week. He's allowed 41 hits in 22 innings this season.
*Duke Ellis made his first start after two appearances as a pinch runner, and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and an error on a bobble in center.
*Paul DeJong wasn't charged with an error, but he (or Nicky Lopez) should've been in the seventh, when he was slow with a throw to second on an attempted inning-ending fielder's choice, and Ceddanne Rafaela beat Nicky Lopez to the bag.
*With Mendick pitching, the White Sox have already used more pitchers (22) than they did during the entirety of the 2007 season, which was my mental benchmark for unwatchable bullpens. There are still 99 games remaining.
