The Chicago White Sox hadn’t won since Lucas Giolito’s six innings of no-hit ball in the second game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Giolito returned to the mound Sunday, but the Sox couldn’t stop their slide or slow down the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays.
The right-hander allowed four runs on five hits in seven innings in a 4-1 loss to the Rays in front of 22,702 at Tropicana Field.
The Sox were swept for the first time this season. They’ve lost four straight, six of seven and nine of 11, falling eight games below .500. They are 0-6-1 in series.
At 7-15, the Sox are off to their worst start since 2018, when they began 6-16.
“We’ve just got to keep playing,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “There’s nothing else to it. They’re not going to stop the season. … Buckle down. Head to Toronto and play good baseball. That’s it.
“There’s a lot of care in there, there’s a lot of fight in there. They’ve been through this before. We’ve just got to keep fighting. We’ve got to play baseball. Continue to fight and prepare. It’s going to turn around. We’ve just got to fight.”
Luke Raley hit a two-run homer during a three-run second and Harold Ramírez added a solo blast in the third for the Rays, who have at least one home run in each of their 22 games. They improved to a jaw-dropping 19-3 overall and 13-0 at home.
“There were way too many mistakes early in the game,” Giolito said. “Hung a changeup (to Raley), one of the worst changeups I’ve thrown in a long time. Trying to go up with a heater (to Ramírez), cut it across the plate for another homer.
“I got stronger as the game went on, felt like I was throwing some of my best pitches in the last couple of innings. Just got to work on getting that good rhythm early.”
Giolito retired 13 of the final 14 hitters he faced and finished with five strikeouts and two walks. Grifol said Giolito’s outing was important in that the length provided some much-needed rest for the bullpen.
“I want to go seven-plus every outing, but there was particular importance on that (Sunday) so I’m happy we got through it,” Giolito said. “(Catcher) Seby (Zavala) did a very good job of keeping me grounded and sequencing up well. Just the execution early in the game was not there, and with how hot this team is that we were going up against, they didn’t let me get away with it.”
The Sox couldn’t convert on a golden opportunity in the first. Luis Robert Jr. singled and with one out stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Christian Bethancourt.
But Andrew Vaughn grounded to third with the infield in and Eloy Jiménez struck out.
“It doesn’t guarantee you a win, but it’s important to take the lead,” Grifol said. “Percentages are high when you take the lead. The game changes a little bit. And then we missed that opportunity and they came back and he threw a changeup to Raley and he hit it for a two-run homer and they took the lead.”
The Sox scored in the fourth when Jiménez drove in Andrew Benintendi with a double to make it 4-1. That turned out to be the team’s last hit. Rays starter Zach Eflin and relievers Yonny Chirinos and Pete Fairbanks retired the final 17 batters.
“They were sinking the baseball, we had a ton of ground balls,” Grifol said. “Those are adjustments that we have to find ways to make during the game. That’s their strength (Sunday), that’s what their strength was, sink those pitches in and get ground balls and they did.”
The Sox finished with just three hits. The four-game losing streak is the longest for the team since they lost eight straight Sept. 20-28 of last season.
“We definitely have not played our best,” Benintendi said. “We haven’t clicked as a team yet as far as hitting and pitching at the same time. There’s a lot of games we have kept ourselves in and had a chance to win. That’s only going to benefit us moving forward. Still a lot of season left but definitely need to start making a move here.
“If we started off 23-0, I wouldn’t think we were the best team ever, it’s just taking it for what it is. Learn from it, get better, go get them tomorrow.”
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