The All-Star break is 17 games after the mathematical midway point, so it's a little misleading to say the White Sox set an MLB record for the most losses in the first half of a season with 71.
But then you watch the way the White Sox succumbed to a sweep at the hands of a mediocre Pittsburgh Pirates team to stumble into the All-Star break on a four-game losing streak, and I don't think you can run the risk of overselling the putridity of the product.
Today's game did a great job of showing how the pieces don't work. The White Sox posted 16 baserunners on 10 hits, five walks, an HBP, and also received an extra out with a Pittsburgh error, but they scored just four runs. The reasons were familiar: Andrew Benintendi's solo shot in the third inning was the lone extra-base hit, and while they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, the nine hitless at-bats included two Eloy Jiménez double plays, including one with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning. That kind of performance is how Luis Robert Jr. can reach base in all five plate appearances and steal two bases without scoring a run.
Meanwhile, the already delicate proposition of a bullpen game was thrown into turmoil when Michael Soroka departed the game two batters into his appearance with a shoulder problem. Chad Kuhl had to enter earlier than expected, and ended up taking the loss for Soroka. He gave up a game-tying double with two outs in the third, and after the Sox retook the lead on Benintendi's blast, Kuhl then gave up a three-run shot to Joey Bart, and Pittsburgh never trailed again.
The Sox did pull within a run when Gavin Sheets picked up Jiménez after a second potential rally-stunting double play with a two-out RBI single that made it 4-3, but Jordan Leasure's continuing struggles kicked the game back out of reach, with an assist from Benintendi's defense in left field.
Leasure walked Bryan Reynolds with one out, then gave up a single to Oneil Cruz that put runners on the corners. Nick Gonzales followed by floating a line drive to left field. Benintendi broke in, but not nearly laterally enough for a successful diving attempt, and it ended up bouncing past him for a two-run triple (after a review; Gonzales was originally called out at third). Gonzales then scored on a Rowdy Tellez that should've allowed Leasure to hit the reset button with the bases empty, but back-to-back two-out doubles made it an 8-4 game.
Even John Brebbia wasn't immune, as he gave up a solo shot to Reynolds that created brief confusion when it stuck on the other side of the chain-link fence in right center.
Bullet points:
*Robert is just the third player in White Sox history to reach base five times and steal a base without scoring a run or driving one in, although one of the others was Dick Allen in a 19-inning game in 1972.
*The White Sox are now 1-21 when Soroka pitches. Hopefully that record changes, but the severity is yet to be determined.
