The White Sox lost a lot of games in May, just like they did in April. But, the win-loss percentage was slightly better in May than it was in April.
Fortunately, there is still a lot of baseball left for the White Sox to play and June could turn out to be a very good month.
The wins and the losses
The Sox started May against the St. Louis Cardinals with Interleague play. They lost that two-game series. Then, the Sox faced the Minnesota Twins and won the first game of that series in an exciting walk-off home run by Trayce Thompson. Nate Jones was given the win in that game. Then, the Sox went on to lose seven consecutive games to the Twins, Pirates, and Cubs. That seven-game losing streak was the longest of the month.
The second win of the month came against the Cubs in their final game at Wrigley Field. This win was by a score of 5-3 and the win was credited to Lucas Giolito with the save given to Bruce Rondon.
The losing streaks got shorter
After the win against the Cubs, the rest of the month was up and down. The Sox lost two to the Pirates in Pittsburgh, then won three out of four against the Texas Rangers at home. This was the first series win against any team other than the Kansas City Royals. After the Rangers left, the Orioles came to town and the two teams split the four-game series. The highlight against the Orioles was a 11-1 win with Dylan Covey getting the W for that game.
The Sox ended May losing a series to the Tigers in Detroit and the Indians in Cleveland. But, the final six games of May were not a total loss as the team did take one against the Tigers by a score of 8-4. Overall, the Sox won 8 games in May and lost 19. They scored 111 runs and allowed 157. Their win percentage was .296.
There really is nowhere to go but up.
Players who excelled in May
More from White Sox News
- The Chicago White Sox might have had a season ending loss
- The Chicago White Sox are expecting Tim Anderson back soon
- Miguel Cairo’s words spark life into the Chicago White Sox
- Dylan Cease should be the favorite for the AL Cy Young Award
- Ozzie Guillen speaks the whole truth about Tony La Russa
A few players excelled in the month of May. Notably, on offense Jose Abreu and Yolmer Sanchez who had 34 and 30 hits respectively. Abreu’s slash for the month was .333/.381/.569 with three home runs and 19 RBIs. Sanchez hit .294/.314/.461 with two home runs, four triples, and 10 RBIs. Tim Anderson scored the most runs in May with 19. He was followed by Abreu and Adam Engel who both crossed home plate 14 times.
The pitching staff was mediocre at best in May. Surprisingly, James Shields recorded the best ERA (3.71) of the starters in May. Reynaldo Lopez, who had a strong April, struggled in May and recorded an ERA of 5.61. Aaron Bummer pitched in the most games (12) and recorded an ERA of 1.64, but a WHIP of 1.73. Jace Fry had the best numbers for the relief staff, finishing the month with an ERA of 0.75 and a WHIP of 0.83. in his 12 innings of work.
Sadly, this month also saw a few players added to the DL and suspended. Welington Castillo was suspended for 80 games on May 24 for PED use. Nicky Delmonico, Leury Garcia, and Davidson were all added to the 10-day DL between May 19 and May 25. Delmonico has a fractured hand, but Garcia and Davidson have short-term problems and should rejoin the team sooner rather than later.
Next: The baseball draft by a White Sox fan
The Sox saw a subtle improvement over their numbers in April, so the trend is toward success as the first series of June opens up against the Brewers. Go, Sox!