Make it 10 in a row. The wrong way
White Sox fall to Brewers in 10, 4-3
This was fun while it lasted, but you just knew it wouldn’t last long enough. And it didn’t.
Garrett Crochet blew through the Brewers, giving up just one run on five hits and K’ing eight — including striking out the side in the sixth, his final inning. Unfortunately, it took him 103 pitches to get there, so, well, uh, bad stuff followed.
The White Sox had looked good up to that point, holding a 3-1 lead, with two lefties hitting homers off rookie southpaw Robert Gasser, who hadn’t been hit hard in his four previous starts but got to hanging breaking pitches against the White Sox.
The first homer was a long fly ball in the third from Andrew Benintendi (of all people, right?), who still somehow managed to come up with Achilles tendinitis on a play where you only have to trot, and had to leave the game:
The other was a two-run blast by Gavin Sheets in the fourth:
The lead held until the bullpen came in for the seventh when Justin Anderson walked a couple of batters, Jordan Leasure decided to wild pitch the runners up a base, then walk Christian Yelich and give up a two-run single to Willy Adames. Tie game, and a no-decision for Crochet, who once more deserved a win he didn’t get.
Leasure recovered for a 1-2-3 eighth, Michael Kopech ditto in the ninth, and because the Sox offense saw no reason to disrupt the day of Milwaukee fans by getting anything but a couple of stray singles after the fourth, it was on to the 10th we went.
Danny Mendick was the team’s Manfred Man, and Zach Remillard seemed the ideal guy to bunt him over to third, but Remillard instead got late into the box for an automatic strike, then poked his bat at a couple of pitches for a strikeout on a foul bunt try. (Hmm, will Pedro say he was “flat” or “not hustling,” or will Zach — who’s been picked off of bases and otherwise made boneheaded plays all season, like most of the club — escape wrath?)
With a couple of easy ground outs by Tommy Pham and Korey Lee, and heading into the bottom of the frame, you knew how the game would end.
Sure enough, after an intentional walk to Yelich, Kopech wild-pitched the runners over. That brought the infield in and Adames to the plate for the coup de gras.
Remillard could have made up for his bunting incompetence by making an amazing play, but it was not to be, and, in fairness, even an amazing play would only have left the bases loaded with no outs.
Interested in a little bullpen comparison? Good, thought you might be.
The line for five Brewer relievers: five innings, one hit, six Ks.
The line for three White Sox relievers: three innings, two hits, three runs (two earned, the other being the Manfred Man), four walks, five Ks, and two wild pitches.
So, 10 straight losses, one win since the Ides of May, a 15-44 record that’s on pace to match the 1962 Mets, and the Sox have to face Freddy Peralta tomorrow afternoon while Nick Nastrini tries to keep his ERA shy of 10.00.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2024 Record 15-44, worst 59-game start in White Sox history (4 1⁄2 games ahead the next-worst, 1948 White Sox) and tied for the eighth-worst start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -135, tied for 13th-worst 59-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 41-121 (.254)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 2 games ahead
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) TIED
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 15 games ahead
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 11 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 3 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season