Sometimes You Just Lose
He didn’t have a great night, but Gavin Floyd at least wasn’t awful on Friday night against the Astros. The long ball continued to pester him, he gave up two, but he also struck out 9 Houston batters on the night. The Sox out-hit the Astros 12 to 8 but had a hard time putting them together at the right time and could only net 3 runs for their efforts in the loss.
Astros (25-33): 8
White Sox (32-26): 3
The game started out with the Astros leading hitter Jose Altuve popping a ground rule double and advancing to third on a wild pitch. The wild pitch would cost the Sox, Jed Lowrie drove him in on a sacrifice fly 2 batters later. It seemed that for much of the first inning the ball was rattling around A.J. Pierzynski’s feet or somewhere behind him. It also seems like this has been a common problem this year for the backstop. Maybe just something he should work on a bit.
Eight Sox position players notched at least one hit, including Jordan Danks lining the first of his career to lead off the 8th. Adam Dunn beat the shift a couple of different ways, once lacing a grenade in the short distance between the third baseman and the right fielder and then later actually using up that whole empty side of the field by shooting a single through to left. None of it would equal the damage inflicted by homeruns from Brett Wallace and Jed Lowrie. Oh and Brian Bogusevic, who went to high school just blocks from U.S. Cellular further damaged the fan base’s confidence in Will Ohman by tacking 3 runs onto the Astros lead with a long blast in the 9th.
Plus: The guys swung the bats well, just that the hits stayed in the park and were scattered across the innings. A more solid effort from the pitching staff would be appreciated, but sometimes things just don’t add up to a win, and it’s not a big deal. That would be Friday night’s loss.
Minus: Though it made way for Jordan Danks to collect his first hit, Dayan Viciedo was removed from the game in the top of the 6th with tight hamstrings. The hope is that it’s an isolated incident; the team can ill afford to lose Viciedo’s power in the lineup.