The Chicago White Sox’s free-fall has reached 1950.
The Sox suffered their eighth consecutive loss Thursday, getting crushed by the Tampa Bay Rays 14-5 in front of 11,060 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Sox are 7-19, their worst start since 1950 (6-20). It’s the team’s longest losing streak since dropping eight in a row Sept. 20-28 last season.
“Obviously you don’t want to get punched in the face three games in a row like we have,” third baseman Jake Burger said, referring to the 7-0 loss Tuesday and the 8-0 defeat Wednesday in Toronto. “Even getting walked off twice in Tampa Bay (Friday and Saturday). It is what it is.
“Every team goes through stints like this, and I think there’s a lot of love in this clubhouse. There’s an emphasis on everybody taking care of their business every single day and that’s what we are doing. I think the morale is still good. Obviously it sucks getting punched in the face, but we’ll start punching back here.”
The Rays got to Sox starter Dylan Cease early. The right-hander lasted just four-plus innings, allowing seven earned runs (six earned) runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
“I didn’t give us a chance win,” Cease said. “It was just bad all around. Not really filling up the zone (and) getting ahead. Pitched from behind, giving up a lot of hits and a lot of runs. It’s just not a winning combination.
“Obviously we’re not playing well, but for me I’ve at least have to give us a chance and I didn’t do that (Thursday).”
Brandon Lowe had a triple, solo homer and two-run single against Cease. The single, in the fifth, knocked Cease out of the game. The six earned runs were the most he allowed since giving up seven on May 24 last season against the Boston Red Sox.
“In general our whole club, we have really good stuff, that’s why we’re up there in the league in strikeouts,” Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “We at times give a little too much credit to the other side. It’s hard to hit. If you ask any hitter, they’ll tell you it’s hard to hit.
“It’s just refocusing on our approach and what we want to do, get ahead in the count and then you can expand a little bit if you want to. Cease has got really, really good stuff. He’ll make an adjustment and he’ll be ready to go next time out.”
Cease and six relievers combined to allow 16 hits.
“(Cease) really didn’t use his fastball on what I think his fastball really is,” Grifol said. “It’s a really, really good pitch. He threw a lot of breaking pitches early. And then he made the adjustment later on and ended up having a quick (1-2-3) inning in the fourth. And then got himself in a little bit of trouble in the fifth.
“We didn’t play defense (Thursday). We didn’t hit with runners in scoring position. We didn’t do much of anything.”
The Sox scored in the second to snap their 25-inning scoreless streak. But that’s not the type of highlight the team was aiming for coming out of spring training.
“Obviously when you break with spring training, everybody feels good,” Burger said. “And we get here and obviously we are in the situation we are in currently and like I said, all you can do is work hard and punch back.”
Grifol wasn’t around for the completion of the game, getting ejected in the eighth after wanting but not being granted an opportunity to challenge a call at first base.
“I had two seconds left on the clock (to challenge a call),” Grifol said. “I signaled to challenge and he didn’t give it to me.”
The Sox were charged with one error Thursday, but overall Grifol saw a “lack of focus” leading to some defensive miscues.
“We’ll get to the bottom of that, we’ll talk about it,” Grifol said. “Made some mental mistakes too — throwing to the wrong base, not knowing the runner. We’ve got to talk about that as well.”
The Sox have plenty to discuss after losing 13 of 15.
“We have a lot of professional guys in here,” Cease said. “We’re not sulking or anything. We want to fix it. We’re going to keep working and eventually we’re going to figure something out.”
()