Per sources, the White Sox lose their millionth close game in a row
The South Side offense flailed into 1-for-10 with RISP, and the pitchers walked seven in 3-1 loss to Giants
Once again the White Sox (26-56) held a close game to the end, but the bats were unable to come alive and they went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position before taking a 3-1 loss to the Giants (45-37).
Righthander Aaron Civale struggled through his first two starts for the White Sox, but at least succeeded in his primary mission for the club: Eat innings. On Friday, he avoided damage but failed in his mission to spare the pen, lasting just four frames. He gave up just one run on three hits, but overall he had a hard time with his control, and walked four batters and struck out the same amount.
Civale started off the first by giving up a double to Heliot Ramos, but whatever Ethan Katz said to him on the mound visit afterward worked, and he retired the next six batters in order. Civale had a minuscule amount of run support for a couple innings, as Chase Meidroth scampered home in the bottom of the first after a fielding error by shortstop Willy Adames that caused the ball to slowly roll into the left-center gap after tipping off of his glove:
The walks really hurt in the third inning, which is when Civale gave up his only run. Patrick Bailey and Rafael Devers both worked free passes, to put runners on first and second, just for Wilmer Flores to capitalize on the situation and rip an RBI double to left.
It felt like things were going downhill fast, especially after Civale walked Mike Yastrzemski to load the bases. He worked out of it, however, with another mound visit working some voodoo magic once again, and Civale was able to force Willy Adames to fly out and strand the sacks packed.
He started to wade into hot water again in the fourth after the Giants ripped a base hit and took their fourth walk to threaten to break the tie. Naturally, Civale was forced to face San Fran’s best hitter, Heliot Ramos — but he struck Ramos out to escape the jam and close his outing with a bang.
The White Sox offense also wasn’t leveraging its scoring opportunities. They loaded the bases in both the fourth and the fifth, but both times the South Side strikers folded when it mattered most. In the fourth, Michael A. Taylor came up with one out and ended up had grounding into a double play to end the inning. Worse, he did it on the first pitch following a four-pitch walk to Josh Rojas.
Pain:
The following inning, Kyle Teel came up with a chance and just one out, but he struck out and Lenyn Sosa followed that up with a pop out to short to end their scoring threat. Through five, the White Sox had left eight runners on base and were just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They are consistently finding themselves in these situations, so as I write this up in the sixth, I already am anticipating the tie to be broken in some ridiculous manner.
We’ll come back to that, though. Coming in to relieve Aaron Civale in the fifth was Tyler Alexander, and he was efficient in his first inning of work, but things didn’t go as well into the sixth. Alexander walked Adames to lead off the inning, and a grounder up the middle bounced off of second base to put two runners on. Just two pitches later, Patrick Bailey ripped a triple down the right field line, past a diving Ryan Noda, to allow the Giants to take a two-run lead.
Wait ... right fielder Ryan Noda? The same Ryan Noda the White Sox picked up to replace Tim Elko on the major league roster at ... first base? It’s not a successful White Sox season unless they dump a first baseman in the outfield because they’re “athletic,” “willing,” or ... “alive.”
So I was right, by the way. They did, in fact, give up the go-ahead runs in a slightly stupid manner. “It sure would be nice to have a right fielder,” she says, for what feels like the 15th (or more!) year in a row.
Alexander got another out before he walked Ramos for his second pass of the inning, but the southpaw was able to ring up Devers to get out of the mess. Devers had gotten on base twice tonight, but he was thankfully unable to do much damage to White Sox pitchers. Alexander actually came back out for the seventh and recovered perfectly, sitting the Giants down in order. That would be his third and final inning, but was on the hook for the loss at that point.
The South Siders swapped Tylers in the eighth, as if we would even notice. Tyler Gilbert took over for the eighth, and retired the three batters he faced in order and struck out one. Sure, Alexander had given up two runs earlier, but the pitching staff was otherwise doing its job. It was up to the offense to complete the comeback, but the White Sox were also retired in a 1-2-3 inning, including Yastrzemski making a solid running catch in deep right.
Dan Altavilla came out for the ninth, and he led off the inning by walking Brett Wisely. Not a great start, but the righty proved us all wrong and picked Wisely off shortly after to get the first out of the inning before shutting down the core part of the Giants lineup in Ramos and Devers.
The White Sox began the bottom of the ninth with Edgar Quero pinch-hitting for Taylor, but he grounded out to second before flipping it to the top of the order. Sadly, Tauchman and Meidroth had back-to-back strikeouts to close out the game, and Meidroth’s was kind of an ugly half-swing situation. The good news for fans is that there were fireworks after the game and a Flo Rida concert to soften the blow of yet another loss that felt like the win was in reach.
Finally, in the category of Players You Sort of Forgot Were Missing From This Impotent Offense, CHSN reporter Brooke Fletcher also provided an update on Luis Robert Jr. during the broadcast. She noted that the White Sox are taking Robert’s hamstring soreness day-by-day, but they are feeling good about how he’s progressing after Thursday’s off-day. Manager Will Venable stated that Robert was feeling a lot better, but they are trying to be safe about it and are ultimately hoping to avoid the IL. They will give him a “few days” of rest due to this, though Venable did note that the situation isn’t ideal to have someone unable to play on the bench.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2025 Record: 26-56, the second-worst start in White Sox history and tied for the 63rd-worst start in baseball history. A 26-56 record projects to 51-111 over a full season. A year ago, the record-breaking White Sox were 21-61.
This means that once again, the two worst season starts in the 125-year history of the White Sox have come in the past two seasons:
2024 21-61
2025 26-56
All-Time White Sox Record (1901-2025, 19,288 games) 9,620-9,668 (.4988). It’s been 126 games since the White Sox had an all-time winning record. The White Sox are currently 48 games worse than .500 and falling under by 66 more games will land the team at its lowest point in its 125-year history.
Record Since the New Pope Was Revealed as a White Sox Fan 16-27
Race With the Colorado Rockies for to the Worst Record in 2025 8 games better
- 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)
10 games better, in all cases
Race to the Worst Post-1899 Record (1916 A’s, 38-124 adjusted to 162 games) 13 games better