Rangers 2, White Sox 0: Offense falls flat
Despite a great performance by Jesse Scholtens, the South Siders came up short in Texas
In their first game after the trade deadline, the White Sox (43-65) lost to the Rangers (61-46), 2-0, at Globe Life Field.
It was all about starting pitchers Jesse Scholtens and Andrew Heaney early on. Through three innings, nobody reached base, and Heaney had six strikeouts, while Scholtens had five. Tim Anderson finally broke up the double-perfect game with a leadoff single to open the fourth. Two batters later, Luis Robert Jr. crushed a changeup just to the right of straight-away center field. The ball appeared to be heading over the fence, and in fact, it would have in 21 out of 30 MLB stadiums. However, Globe Life Field barely held this one, and center fielder Leody Taveras made a great catch just in front of the wall.
Scholtens had his perfect game broken up with no outs in the fourth, as well, when Marcus Semien singled. Scholtens also walked Travis Jankowski, and suddenly, he was in trouble. However, he got Nathaniel Lowe to ground into a double play, and Adolis García grounded out to end the threat.
The Rangers finally broke the ice in the bottom of the fifth, when Mitch Garver got a fastball to his liking and crushed it. Garver’s sixth home run this season traveled 411 feet, and the only stadium with dimensions that would have held it is Coors Field.
Despite that mistake, Scholtens had a terrific game. Thanks to his six strong innings, he gave the White Sox an excellent opportunity to win, as he only allowed that run. Scholtens continues to be one of the few pleasant surprises of the season.
In the seventh, rookie Declan Cronin took over on the mound. Unfortunately, Cronin was unable to keep the deficit at one, as García took him deep for a solo home run. Cronin got through the rest of the seventh without allowing further damage, and Bryan Shaw pitched a perfect eighth inning, but it did not matter.
Meanwhile, the offense was nowhere to be found. Besides the fourth inning single by Anderson and the subsequent deep fly out by Robert, there was hardly any life. Yoán Moncada singled to lead off the seventh, and Andrew Vaughn singled to lead off the eighth. However, both of them were stranded without even advancing to second. The White Sox struck out 16 times and drew exactly zero walks.
The White Sox will be back in action against Texas tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. Central. Dylan Cease (4.15 ERA, 4.08 xERA, 3.57 FIP, 2.6 fWAR) is scheduled to take the mound. As usual, NBC Sports Chicago and WMVP 1000 AM will cover the game.