White Sox: Rebuilding team no match for hot Cardinals bats

The White Sox recorded their sixth consecutive loss with a score of 14-2. This time, it was to the St. Louis Cardinals who recorded 16 hits off of Dylan Covey and the bullpen.

The White Sox bats managed a total of five hits off of the Cards pitching staff, with only three of them coming from Miles Mikolas.

The only Sox offense

Tim Anderson and Omar Narvaez recorded the only two runs for the Sox, with the other hits coming from Yolmer Sanchez, Leury Garcia, and Charlie Tilson. Yoan Moncada and Tilson earned walks off of Greg Holland and Mikolas. That was it for the White Sox offense.

To add to the disappointing score of the game, Sox batters struck out a total of nine times. With a pitcher like Mikolas on the mound, offense is at a premium. Mikolas, who hasn’t pitched in the MLB since 2014, is having the best season of his career. In fact, he is on the 2018 NL All-Star Team because of his outstanding season that includes a career-low ERA of 2.63 and an NL-leading 1.4 walks per nine.

The pitching, oy vey, the pitching

Covey started the game. He went five innings and had a disappointing line. He gave up nine hits and five runs (only four of them were earned). On a positive note, he only walked two batters, but he struck out five, including the always dangerous Yadier Molina in the top of the 2nd inning.

The bullpen did the rest of the damage, recording the other nine runs. Jace Fry, who dominated in May and June, continued his downturn in July. He’s pitched in three games this month and given up as many runs in July as he gave up in 25 games in May and June. Through May and June, his ERA was 1.82 in 24.2 innings pitched. In the 3.1 innings he’s pitched in July, his ERA is at an ungainly 16.20. He gave up two runs against the Cardinals, striking out one and walking one.

Rondon couldn’t throw strikes

After a handful of better outings to start July, Bruce Rondon also collapsed against the Cards. He walked three batters and all three batters scored after Dexter Fowler hit a grand slam off of Hector Santiago, who came in to replace him. Rondon’s outing was so bad that he only recorded one strike in those three walks.

The meltdown of Fry, Rondon, and Santiago resulted in seven runs scored in the sixth inning. The Cards scored in six of the nine innings. The Sox only scored in the second. Fortunately, this is just a two-game series.

Next: The White Sox should trade Jose Abreu

Santiago finished the game, giving up four runs in his 3.1 innings pitched. It was just one ugly game showing the massive disparity between the NL Central and the AL Central. One little piece of advice: if you are playing fantasy baseball and Miles Mikolas is available – grab him as soon as you can.

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