It was another game where the White Sox offense failed to put pressure on the opposing pitcher.
Trailing by a run in the sixth inning, center fielder Luis Robert Jr. connected on a 97.3-mph fastball near the top of the zone to bring right fielder Tommy Pham home. Robert followed that up by stealing second base and putting the Sox in position to score another run.
The rally didn’t start after designated hitter Gavin Sheets flew out to left field, and first baseman Andrew Vaughn grounded out to end the inning.
The Pirates promptly scored two runs in the seventh inning to take the lead back and blow the game open with three runs in the ninth inning to win 6-2 on Saturday to take the series.
Saturday’s loss was the Sox’ 70th of the season; making the first team in the majors with that many losses this season. They’re now 43 games below .500.
Saturday’s game was within reach for the Sox if the offense put more pressure on Pirates starter Luis Ortiz. But that’s the story for the Sox this year.
They’ve lost a litany of games where they were competitive until the end but faltered because the offense didn’t produce, the defense committed crucial errors or the bullpen imploded. Sometimes a combination of all three components.
“Those games are tougher to swallow,” Robert said through an interpreter. “Those losses in close games are tougher, for sure. But that’s part of the game. You try to battle, and you try not to get to those situations.”
They weren’t stringing together at-bats or drawing walks — one walk in the first inning by Pham. They allowed Pirates starter Luis Ortiz to cruise through 5 ⅔ innings, allowing one run, one walk and four hits while striking out five.
It took until the third inning for the Sox to get their first hit — catcher Martin Maldonado’s single — and the fourth inning for them to advance to second base after an error by Pirates starter Luis Ortiz.
Starter Chris Flexen rebounded from a shaky start — he allowed a double and a single on his first three pitches — to cruise through the Pirates lineup. Flexen threw six innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs and two walks.
“I thought I mixed pretty well,” Flexen said. “Had some situations where the defense picked me up and was able to keep the game where it was at throughout that outing and try to compete.”
Entering Saturday’s game, Sox starters had a 3.10 ERA since June 7. Of late, the offense has sputtered and scored four runs or fewer in seven of the eight games. The Sox are last in batting average (.220), slugging percentage (.348) and on-base plus slugging (.630).
The Sox, who have the least-productive offense in the majors (3.20 runs per game), couldn’t muster a run to tie the game despite having multiple opportunities with a runner on second base.
“Hitting is tough,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “You’ve got to go and grind at-bats out. All these guys are trying to put together quality at-bats every single time. Nobody’s ever trying to waste at-bats. They had a good plan coming in. We just didn’t execute today.”
The Sox have played like one of the worst teams in the league and one game remains before the end of an otherwise forgettable first half.
“You can’t hide what everybody can see,” Robert said. “It’s been what it has been. We have to keep working hard to try to get a better second half.”