There's a game within White Sox games right now, and it could be called "Who Bolstered Their Trade Value?"
Chris Flexen did, throwing six-plus innings for the fourth time in five starts, while allowing no homers for the first time in six outings. He allowed just one run over the "six," but the "plus" is what sent him to his eighth loss of the season.
With the game tied at 1 in the seventh, Nicky Lopez couldn't handle Ke'Bryan Hayes' 98-mph one-hopper to open the inning, and that's when Pedro Grifol went to the bullpen. He either pulled Flexen a batter too early, or he went to the wrong reliever, because most teams wouldn't bypass the opportunity to face Jack Suwinski, who is running right alongside Andrew Benintendi as the worst outfielder in baseball this season. But Grifol went to Tanner Banks, Derek Shelton countered with righty Connor Joe, and, compounding problems, Banks plunked Joe.
Just when it looked like he got a gift with Yasmani Grandal fouling off a two-strike bunt(!), he gave it back by knocking down Andrew McCutchen's grounder. Had he left it go through, it would've been an inning-ending double play. As it stood, it was a bases-loading infield single, and Bryan Reynolds shot a single through the drawn-in right side to score two and give the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
The Sox reduced the deficit by half in the bottom of the eighth when Tommy Pham check-swung a grounder down the right-field line, and Joe added to the oops by crashing into the security guard who didn't get out of the way. Pham was awarded a triple even though it was a double and E9 in spirit, and Eloy Jiménez scored him with a groundout to third.
Alas, the run-prevention unit caved in further. Justin Anderson started the ninth by walking Joe, and when Grandal hit a bouncer to Andrew Vaughn for what should've been an easy force, his throw to second pulled Nicky Lopez well off the bag (credit Joe for cramping Vaughn's style and cutting down the angle by veering out of the baseline). Anderson walked Joey Bart to load the bases, and Reynolds once again delivered a two-run single to the right side. Corey Julks followed by making an impressive catch into the netting just in front of the left-field foul pole, but that still resulted in a sac fly.
That's how the White Sox reached 70 losses before 30 wins, although they also only totaled five hits and a walk against swingman Luis Ortiz, even if his performance is transcending that label. Ortiz benefited from a large and capricious strike zone by Malachi Moore, and frustration from the White Sox dugout resulted in a Marcus Thames ejection.
Also, the White Sox don't hit, with a couple exceptions. Pham reached base three times at the top of the order and scored both runs. Luis Robert Jr. drove him in the first time with a two-out single in the sixth that tied the game at 1. Pham made a great running catch in right field, and Robert stole two bases, so teams interested in an outfielder at the trade deadline might've noticed both showing 100-percent efforts. Throw in Flexen's quality start, and that's about all that's worth paying attention to.
Bullet points:
*Flexen gave up the first run over the first three batters of the game on a double, single, and fielder's choice that could've been a 6-4-3 double play had Lenyn Sosa not gotten a late break to second, causing confusion about whether Lopez should take it himself.
*The Pirates have won three in a row. They hadn't won or lost that many games consecutively since May 10.
