The Chicago Pham Sox fail to break Minnesota’s streak
The South Siders fall to the Twins, 6-5, despite a persistent fight
Happy Tuesday, White Sox friends. It finally feels like good baseball is back for White Sox, even if the resurrection of the offense was a little late to start and helped fuel tonight’s 6-5 loss.
The South Siders came into tonight’s game with a spiritual hangover from last night’s defeat, and had a chance to break the hottest team in baseball’s eight-game winning streak this evening.
That’s right, it’s time for MEME GAME COVERAGE.
Some White Sox fans blamed yesterday’s loss on senseless skipper Pedro Grifol’s move to give Tommy Pham a day off, and that hypothesis would be put to the test this evening.
It seems absurd that the addition of Pham would resurrect the White Sox offense, but stats don’t lie. Before tonight’s game, the White Sox had been 3-1 since he joined the roster, with the loss coming on a day that Pham was benched.
Middling starter Michael Soroka’s massive ground ball rate on his slider was destined to make up for his 0-3 start this season, but he brought much more than that tonight, backed by a good offense against a competitive Minnesota Twins, who hit zero dingers off White Sox pitchers.
The first couple innings passed fast for both teams, even with the White Sox stranding two in the second. Meanwhile, Soroka had a no-hitter going while the White Sox thought they scored on a Pham double that hit the wall and sent Martín Maldonado home — a call that was overturned with a Rocco Baldelli challenge.
Eloy Jiménez wasted no time making up for the lost challenge, and smacked an RBI single to send Pham home: 1-0, White Sox.
By the bottom of the third, Soroka still had a no-hitter going strong, with 10 in a row retired before walking a couple of Twins, but quickly pitched out of the jam. The White Sox didn’t slow down, loading the bases for Pham, who was now facing Twins reliever Cody Funderburk.
The Twins fudged it, and with no one covering second base and Funderburk failing to get to first there was no one to make the force out, and Pham got the RBI: 2-0, White Sox.
Soroka maintained that no-hitter until the fifth inning, when Trevor Larnach’s base hit, followed by an RBI triple by White Sox enemy Willi Castro and a Kyle Farmer RBI double tied the game at two apiece. Soroka was pulled, but his performance exceeded expectations.
The White Sox offense didn’t slow down, as with a runner on second, Danny Mendick hit a two-run homer. His first of the season put the White Sox ahead, 4-2.
In the sixth, Paul DeJong completely forgot about Ryan Jeffers at third and casually threw to get the out at second while Jeffers coasted into home. Reminder: The White Sox are not a team who can afford to make run prevention optional. The White Sox lead winnowed to 4-3.
The White Sox used a lot of their bullpen tonight, with seven pitchers pitching (cue Twelve Days of Christmas, please, and let that get stuck in your head). In the seventh, Steven Wilson hit Byron Buxton, frankly something we’ve all wished we could do to this White Sox killer. Buxton was thrown out while trying to steal second, and Maldonado was right on top of the attempt. Baldelli, challenge-happy, lost this one, which felt very nice.
The White Sox were ahead the entire game ... and we all felt it coming.
Unfortunately, the eighth inning saw White Sox pitching fall apart. Jordan Leasure looked tense and gave up a leadoff walk, a double, a base hit, and then beaned Santana, putting the Twins up, 5-4. Twenty-four-year-old Prelander Berroa made his White Sox debut with a pitch clock violation, followed by a Castro bean, but luckily pitched out of the jam.
The White Sox offense didn’t stop, and newly ablaze Andrew Benintendi’s solo home run tied the game at five.
The White Sox would not quit. It was time to shut down the Twinkies.
Birthday Boy Michael Kopech came in to close down Minnesota — and failed. He gave up a walk, a single, and eventually Buxton scored on a sac fly, putting the Twins ahead again, 6-5.
The notable change in the White Sox was the continued pressure on Twins pitching. The offense has been working and not letting up, and the competition is finally alive again. It sucks that that’s news, but hey, the bar has been in hell. Solid, competitive offense has been an ingredient the White Sox have been missing for the majority of this season’s start.
The Twins are now on a nine-game winning streak, the hottest in baseball. There’s an early game tomorrow, with the first pitch popping off at 1:10 p.m. CST, when the White Sox will try to avoid the sweep and finally break up this annoyingly-blazing, fourth-place Minnesota team.
The Tommy Pham hypothesis has failed, but please keep him in the lineup, Grifol.
People who may or may not have been identified as “haters,” you’re safe for now.
Futility Watch
White Sox 2024 Record 6-24, worst 30-game start in White Sox history (ahead of the 1948 White Sox, at 7-22-1), tied with seven teams for sixth-worst in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -79, tied for 14th-worst 30-game start in MLB history
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 32-130 (.200)
Race to the Worst-Ever White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 30 1⁄2 games ahead
Race to the Most-Ever White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 24 games ahead
Race to the Worst-Ever American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 6 games ahead
Race to the Worst-Ever MLB Record (1899 Spiders, 21-141*) 11 games behind
*record adjusted to a 162-game season