The Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers played a tight game that stretched 12 innings on Sunday. Thanks to a baserunning mistake to go along with a slew of other miscues, the White Sox lost 8-6.
The bats were cold once again (at least to start) and the pitching suffered a huge loss but the team played poorly all the way around. No one player can take responsibility for this particular loss. It was truly a team effort.
The White Sox looked as though they were going to have to fight and claw their way through this one as soon as starting pitcher Michael Kopech was lost to an injury early in the first inning.
It’s his knee and it’s possible that he will be available next weekend but losing him for this game pushed an already taxed bullpen to the limit. This may hurt the White Sox over the next couple of games.
The Chicago White Sox blew it again against the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
The White Sox started out the game with a one-run lead but the Rangers would get two in the third and another one in the fourth to go up 3-1. Things remained quiet for a few innings until the bottom of the seventh when the White Sox nabbed two more runs to tie it up.
The game would go into extra innings but in the 11th, it would have appeared as if the Rangers would grab an insurmountable lead tacking on three runs to make it 6-3.
Chicago would not be denied, however, as they got three runs of their own but couldn’t get the win and the game moved on to the 12th tied 6 to 6. The Rangers got two in the top of the 12th and the White Sox appeared poised to tie it again with some of their best batters coming to the plate.
However, once again it was not meant to be for the Sox on this day. A line-out by Jake Burger that allowed Luis Robert to tag up and try to advance to third saw him get thrown out at third to end the game. This play was just a microcosm of the team’s struggles this season.
This team has been hot and cold all year. They don’t seem to be able to find any consistency and that starts with manager Tony La Russa.
His management has become sloppy and he’s managing the team poorly. Something must be done or this team is going to underachieve and continue down a path toward missing the playoffs.
Hopefully, the White Sox can right the ship against the Detroit Tigers this next series. If they can’t, it’s going to be a tough road ahead.