Before the game the Sox got the worst news possible as their best pitcher Michael Wacha was placed on the 15 day Injured List with "left intercostal irritation". This is coming off the heels of BOTH James Paxton and Chris Sale being shut down from their rehabs due to setbacks and Rich Hill testing positive for Covid. Its been Murphy's Law this season and Tyler Danish has been called up to replace Wacha.
The good news was the Boston Bruins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of their first round NHL playoff series but the bad news was the Chicago White Sox swept the Boston Red Sox on Mother's Day. The worst offense in baseball lived up to their billing as statistically the third worst starting pitcher in baseball shut them out for five innings. Dallas Keuchel held the Sox to 2 runs in 5 2/3 innings as the Sox barely put together a sixth inning rally. Meanwhile bad defense by Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo led to the White Sox scoring 3 runs in the third. The Red Sox bullpen valiantly shut down the White Sox the rest of the way but the miserable offense produced nothing. The team is circling the drain with their fifth straight loss as the White Sox won it 3-2 at Fenway Park.
Sox fans can only laugh at this point
Not Houck's day
Down goes Kulpa
Dalbec's body language says it all
Vazquez drives in a run
White Sox win
Story The Jackass
Houck got the ball in the top of the first inning and Leury Garcia struck out swinging on a slider to start. Luis Robert grounded out to second and Jose Abreu grounded out to short to end the inning. Keuchel got the ball in the bottom of the first and Kike Hernandez drew a walk to start. Trevor Story looked at strike three right down the middle and got soundly booed. Rafael Devers ripped a base hit to center but Xander Bogaerts popped up weakly to first. JD Martinez lined out to right to end the inning, how unusual.
Yasmani Grandal effortlessly singled to left to start the top of the second and Gavin Sheets took strike three on the outside corner. Jake Burger banged into a double play to end the inning. Christian Vazquez grounded out to short to start the bottom of the second and Alex Verdugo got a base hit to left but Bobby Dalbec left him out to dry at second on a strike em out throw em out double play to end the inning.
Reese McGuire lined a base hit past Story to start the top of the third and Josh Harrison was hit with a pitch. Dalbec made a great pick on a bad throw off a sacrifice bunt by Danny Mendick but Devers whiffed on a swinging bunt by Garcia to allow McGuire to score. Robert forced Garcia at second on a grounder to Houck but Abreu ripped a base hit to left to score Harrison. Robert caught Verdugo asleep and scored on a bad throw home and that was it for Houck. Hiro Sawamura came in and Verdugo made a diving catch to rob Grandal of a double to end the inning with Chicago up for good 3-0.
Christian Arroyo naturally popped up to right to start the bottom of the third and Hernandez popped up to right as well. Story popped up to left to end the inning. Pathetic.
Sawamura snuffed out a Sheets bunt attempt to start the top of the fourth but Burger caused a delay by knocking out home plate umpire Ron Kulpa with a foul ball. Marty Foster took over behind the plate and Burger struck out swinging. McGuire popped up to third to end the inning.
Somehow Devers got a base hit to center to start the bottom of the fourth before Bogaerts singled in the hole at second. Boos rained down as Martinez banged into a double play and Vazquez took strike three right down the middle to end the inning.
Tyler Danish came in to pitch the top of the fifth and hit Harrison to start. Mendick struck out swinging and Garcia forced Harrison at second. Robert singled Garcia to third but Abreu forced Robert at second to end the inning. A stat showed Keuchel was the third worst starring pitcher last year in all of baseball so naturally Verdugo was retired on a squibber in front of the plate to start the bottom of the fifth. Once again Dalbec struck out swinging and in yet another sign this isn't the year, Arroyo doubled off the very top of the centerfield wall missing a home run by 5 feet. Naturally Hernandez grounded out to short to end the inning. What an embarrassment.
Grandal got a base hit to left to start the top of the sixth to chase Danish. Austin Davis came in and Adam Engel pinch hit for Sheets. Engel got plunked but somehow Burger struck out swinging and McGuire lined out to Devers. Harrison flied out to center to end the inning. Story continued his awful season by striking out swinging on a pitch 10 feet over his head but Devers got a base hit to center. Bogaerts poked a base hit to right to move Devers to third and Rafael scored on the grounder to the mound by Martinez. Somehow Vazquez poked a base hit to left to score Bogaerts, taking second on the throw home. Keuchel was left in to face Verdugo and naturally Verdugo flied out to center on the first pitch to end the inning with the Red Sox down 3-2.
Hansel Robles came in to pitch the top of the seventh and Mendick lined out to short to start. Garcia flied out to right and Robert lined out to Story to end the inning. Ryan Burr came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and to show how laughably bad the Sox are, Jackie Bradley Jr pinch hit for Dalbec. Naturally JBJ struck out swinging, Arroyo grounded out to short and Hernandez lined out to center to end the inning.
Jake Diekman came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Abreu struck out swinging to start. Grandal walked but Engel struck out swinging. Grandal took second but Burger was rung up for strike three to end the inning. Matt Foster came in to pitch the bottom of the eigthh and boos rained down on Story as he earned the hat trick by being rung up for strike three on a check swing to start. Devers struck out swinging on a 96 mph fastball right down the middle and Bogaerts whiffed on a slider nowhere close to end the inning.
Matt Strahm came in to pitch the top of the ninth and McGuire took strike three to start. Harrison popped up to first and Mendick struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox bullpen put up a goose egg after the third inning in a valiant effort. Jose Ruiz came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and Martinez doubled off the Monster to start. Franchy Cordero pinch ran for Martinez but it didn't matter as Vazquez popped up to second, Verdugo struck out swinging and Bennett Sousa came in to face Bradley. Sox manager Alex Cora countered by sending Kevin Plawecki to pinch hit for Bradley. Naturally he flied out to center to end the game. The worst offense in baseball continued Boston's last place losing steak as the White Sox had won it 3-2.
Jackass of the Night is Trevor Story. The $130 million dollar bust was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
The Good:
Rafael Devers was 3 for 4 with a run scored.
Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Christian Arroyo was 1 for 3.
Hiro Sawamura tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Tyler Danish pitched a scoreless inning.
Austin Davis pitched a scoreless sixth inning.
Hansel Robles pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Jake Diekman pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Matt Strahm pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts.
Jackie Bradley Jr struck out as a pinch hitter.
Kevin Plawecki flied out as a pinch hitter.
Tanner Houck took the loss by allowing 3 runs in 2 2.3 innings.
The Ugly:
Kike Hernandez was 0 for 3 but walked.
JD Martinez was just 1 for 4 but drove in a run.
Christian Vazquez was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but drove in a run.
Alex Verdugo was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Honorable Mention:
Franchy Cordero ran for Martinez in the bottom of the ninth.
Final Thoughts:
Something HAS to be done now. Somebody has to go whether its Chaim Bloom, Alex Cora, Peter Fatse or some of the players. The entire team with the exception of Martinez, Devers and Bogaerts are hitting under .226...THE ENTIRE TEAM including the bench. To say Verdugo, Hernandez and Vazquez have underperformed is an understatement and we all knew Bradley wasn't going to hit well. The surprise is who saw Story and Dalbec being THIS bad? Dalbec may not even be able to hit Double A pitching right now and Story is reaching Tony Clark in 2002 level. Its been an organizational failure from the top to the bottom as Bloom put this roster together and Cora continues to make the same mistakes he made last year. Cora continues to pull starters too early and refuses to bunt with a runner on second base. The Sox have played 29 games this year and not only have lost 19 of them but 9 of them were blown saves. Somebody posted a stat that Sox starters have had a 1.66 ERA in the last 15 games and have gone 3-12 in those games. Getting shut down by Dallas Keuchel throwing 88 mph sinkers down the middle is just embarrassing. Somebody needs to pay for this but its unlikely anyone will. The problem is Sox brass don't want to rush the trio of Jarren Duran, Triston Casas and Jeter Downs too early but something has to be done. You can't have 9 out of 12 position players hitting under .226 and expect to win, and they aren't. The loss dropped the Sox to 10-19, last place in the AL East. After an off-day tomorrow it gets even worse for the Sox as they now head to Atlanta to play the World Series champion Braves. Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock gets the start against Kyle Wright of the Braves on Tuesday night at 7:20 PM at Truist Park.
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