The Chicago White Sox are off to the worst start in franchise history after being swept by the Cincinnati Reds in a three-game set.
Swept is putting it nicely as the Reds crushed the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field this weekend.
The Sox are officially the get-right team in the big leagues after the Reds came into Chicago losers of three of their past four games.
The Reds outscored the Sox 27-5. The Sox were non-competitive in all three games as they managed just one run in the first game and were shut out on Saturday. The closest the Sox ever got to being a threat to the Reds was when they made 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth on Sunday.
The Reds quickly added two more runs in the next inning and cruised to an easy 11-4 victory, much like they cruised to an 11-1 win on Friday and a 5-0 dub on Saturday.
The Sox had Garrett Crochet, Jordan Leisure, and Michael Kopech all pitch on Saturday and still got shut out. Crochet had one bad inning when he gave up five runs in the second. He should have gotten out of the inning a few times, but the umpire had a different interpretation of the strike zone. Otherwise, the Sox were able to deploy their three best pitchers and the offense still could do nothing.
It is not like the Reds were throwing Johnny Cueto out there in his prime. Their starting pitching was a reason Cincinnati missed the playoffs last year partly due to their starting pitching. All the Reds did was add Frankie Montas and he did not even pitch in this series.
Instead, the White Sox showed just how bad of a team they truly are.
Ballgame. Sox lose 11-4 as Reds complete the sweep. Sox were outscored 27-5 in the three-game series. Ugly one today: Sox pitchers walked eight, Sox fielders made three errors, Sox allowed six stolen bases.
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) April 14, 2024
They’re 2-13, the worst 15-game start to a season in franchise history.
The Sox managed just four hits on Friday and two on Saturday. Two gosh darn hits! The Sox then struck out 12 times on Sunday.
Andrew Benintendi continues to steal money as he is hitting .145 on the season as he went 1-for-8. Andrew Vaughn's slow start continued as he went 1-for-12 with a walk. Those are two bats the White Sox need to step while they do without Luis Robert Jr., Yoan Moncada, and Eloy Jimenez who are (no surprise here) on the IL.
Serious question, how long do Andrew Benintendi and Andrew Vaughn have to play like absolute garbage before Pedro Grifol moves them down in the lineup?
— Mike (@ChiSoxFanMike) April 14, 2024
The Sox are dead last in runs and second to last in team batting average in the majors. That means the pitching must be perfect for any chance of being competitive. That did not happen in this series. Chris Flexen and Michael Soroka got blown up early and the bullpen could not keep the Sox in those games on Friday and Saturday.
Pedro Grifol had this to say about the struggling Sox bats, which have produced a grand total of 30 runs in 14 games, an average of 2.1 runs a contest, and have produced one run or fewer in eight of those 14 games. pic.twitter.com/huCzBLyH42
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) April 14, 2024
At some point, you have to wonder if manager Pedro Grifol will last through this month. We all knew this season would not be good, but the hope was with the upgrades to the defense, the Sox would be competitive.
The defense still makes errors, the pitching stinks outside of like five arms, and the offense makes scoring runs seem impossible. Some of that falls on the players, but being this dumb when it comes to playing the game is on Pedro. Especially since he turned the word fast into an acronym for Fearless, Aggressive, Selfless, and Technically Sound. Four things that you would never use to describe this team right now.