Jacob Amaya throws three straight easy fly outs, so White Sox only lose to Royals, 10-0
Enough, already, of those close games that get everybody on edge
As a general rule, when you lose a baseball game by 10 runs, there wasn’t really a defining moment. But in this case, there kind of was.
Coming into today, the White Sox had lost the first three games of the series in Kansas City by a total of 9-4, never so far out of the games that the situation was hopeless. Well, until the end, anyway.
And even this one was close until a series of events in the fifth inning. K.C. was up just 2-0 at the time on a couple of Salvador Pérez RBIs. Andrew Vaughn, who has always hit Royals starter Kris Bubic well, led off the fifth with a double. Joshua Palacios then hit a slow grounder to short and superstar Bobby Witt Jr. had a brain freeze: Instead of easily throwing out the slothlike Vaughn heading to third, Witt was late trying for Palacios.
Getting men on first and third and no one out thanks to a mental miscue by one of the greatest players in the game ought to put you in business, right? Nah, this is the White Sox, so Lenyn Sosa hit a grounder right to third for a contact play out, as Vaughn did his usual snail imitation heading home. Then Brooks Baldwin ended the inning with a double-play ball back to the mound.
Then in the bottom half, Jonathan India walked, Witt singled, and after the usually-reliable Mike Vasil replaced a struggling (and very pitch-heavy) Davis Martin, Maikel García hit a two-out, two-run triple and we were off to laffer territory. Just for fun, the Royals scored two more in the sixth and four more in the eighth before usual shortstop Jacob Amaya relieved Jared Shuster (who had given up five straight hits) and got three straight outs, Amaya’s was, by far, the best Sox pitching performance of the day.
It was a great day for K.C. batting averages, with 17 hits including four by Witt and three RBIs for Pérez as he got to pad his supposed Hall of Fame qualifications. Not so much of a thrill for Sox hitters, who managed five singles and a Sosa double and went 1-for-9 with RISP. They did manage to get one walk against just 10 strikeouts.
Kansas City would have had 19 hits were it not for a couple of nice outfield plays, though, so let’s show you those, at least. First, Brooks Baldwin in the fourth:
And then Luis Robert Jr. in the seventh:
The slaughter dropped Chicago’s record to 10-28, but with the Marlins coming to town tomorrow maybe there’s a chance for a victory.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2025 Record 10-28, tied for the worst start in White Sox history and tied for 24th-worst start in baseball history. A 10-28 record projects to 43-119 over a full season. A year ago, the White Sox were 10-28.
The White Sox have been held to one or fewer runs 10 times already in 2025 (26% of games). A year ago, the White Sox were held to one or fewer runs 46 times (28%).
All-Time White Sox Record (1901-2025, 19,244 games) 9,604-9,640 (.4991). It’s been 83 games since the White Sox had an all-time winning record.
- Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2024 White Sox, 41-121)
- Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120-1, finished three percentage points worse than the 2024 White Sox)
- Race to the Most White Sox Losses (2024, 121)
- Race to the Worst White Sox Record (2024, 41-121)
2 games better, in all cases
Race to the Worst Post-1899 Record (1916 A’s, 38-124 adjusted to 162 games) 5 games better