The Chicago White Sox have lost two straight to the Baltimore Orioles in controversial or painstaking fashion

/ Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Wins have been hard to come by for the Chicago White Sox this season. Heck, it has been darned near impossible on most nights.

The White Sox' 15-37 record is the worst mark through 52 games in franchise history. Why that matters is that the Sox have been around since 1900. It is not like the Sox have a winning history like the New York Yankees. However, 123 seasons have come and gone for the Sox, and it has never reached this level of bad this early in a season.

There have been nights the Sox have had no hope of winning as evidenced by getting shut out 10 times this season. There are other nights the chances of winning are slim unless Erick Fedde or Garrett Crochet are on the mound. 10 of the White Sox' 15 victories have come when Fedde or Crochet have started.

Finally, victory is nearly impossible on most nights because of the talent disparity the Southsiders might face. Just look at the Sox getting easily swept by the Yankees in the Bronx.

However, the Sox are facing a major talent gap against the Baltimore Orioles in a four-game set and holding their own.

The problem is the Sox have lost those games painfully or controversially.

The Sox rallied back from an 8-2 deficit on Thursday in the ninth inning to get within two runs of Baltimore and had the game-winning run at the plate with one out.

Andrew Benintendi popped out and it should have been the second out. Instead, it was ruled Andrew Vaughn interfered with Gunnar Henderson trying to catch the ball as Vaughn returned to second. It was game over in the most bizarre fashion.

It became controversial when Major League Baseball even admitted discretion should have been used and that call should not have been made.

On Friday, the Sox were down 6-4 with two outs when Tommy Pham blasted a shot to center. The ball should have landed in the stands and extended the game. Colton Cowser decided it was game over instead.

The Sox really have no one to blame but themselves.

It stinks to lose a game where even MLB said in hindsight the Sox got screwed. The Sox also put themselves in an 8-2 hole on Thursday.

Starting pitcher Mike Clevinger was ineffective and the Sox had bases loaded to start the game but came away with one run. Keeping Baltimore off the scoreboard is not easy, but it is part of the job description of any pitcher. Neither Clevinger nor Jared Shuster achieved that job objective.

On Friday, the Sox were tied with the Orioles 4-4 in the eighth. John Brebbia allowed two on and Michael Kopech could not keep the game tied when he came in.

The Sox' terrible offense, ineffective pitching when Fedde or Crochet are not starting, and poor defense have been the reason the Sox keep finding themselves in these situations. To top it off, they cannot do the little things usually like running the bases effectively. No wonder why they keep losing in the margins like this.

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