White Sox back to the (being) shut out routine, fall to Astros, 2-0

Too bad you can’t rob homers in the Crawford Boxes

For a moment there, it looked like this might go the White Sox way and they wouldn’t lose their unlucky 13th straight series, even with rookie Ky Bush facing Framber Valdez. Bush gave up singles to the first two Astros batters, one a cheapie, and it looked like the end was coming at the beginning when Yainer Diaz launched a blast to right. But then Dominic Fletcher decided to keep the game tied, with a play that deserves a look. Make that two looks. Nah, make it three.

You can’t tell from those long shots, but if you get a chance watch a video close-up, because the expression on the face of the youngster from whom Fletcher swiped the ball is priceless.

Fletcher also intimidated the Houston third-base coach into not sending a runner home in the third, even though the run would have scored easily when the throw came in high and up the line.

After that, Bush seemed inspired. Instead of his usual walkathon, he actually got batters out, aided by the fact that the Astros are as totally lacking in plate discipline as the Sox. The Astros had almost all the hard-hit balls while Bush and Valdez were in the game, but it wasn’t until the sixth inning, with Diaz again at the plate, that one mattered.

Bush ended his day giving up just the one run on four hits and three walks, with five strikeouts, a nice afternoon’s work even against a lineup missing Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker. The southpaw gets the loss because the Sox offense was no match for Valdez, who allowed three singles, one a dribbler, and one walk and struck out nine in seven innings, leaving the game despite only needing 82 pitches to get that far (three of those K’s were on pitches way out of the zone to Luis Robert Jr., who has reverted to looking horrible after his big game on Friday night).

José Altuve added another Crawford Box shot off John Brebbia in the eighth because, why not, it’s Brebbia. But it wasn’t needed, because the Sox batters were, well, Sox batters. They got a couple medium-loud outs off of Bryan Abreu in the eighth, but decided there was no sense trying the same thing against Josh Hader in the ninth.

One bright note — the Sox didn’t have a single failure with a runner in scoring position — though that was because they never got a runner into scoring position.

One other bright note — the game only ran two hours three minutes, so Mark Buehrle would be proud of that part, if not the outcome.

A less-bright note — the White Sox have now gone 2 1⁄2 games (22 innings, if you want to be exact) without an extra-base hit.

The White Sox are now 30-95, on pace to outpace the 1962 Mets record for most losses in the modern era by three games, which basically means since leagues and teams quit forming and folding on a weekly basis. They now are going to San Francisco. Perhaps they’ll meet some gentle people there.

Whoops. hold it — here’s a version of the Fletcher catch where you can spot the youngster’s dismay in the slo-mo repeat.

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Futility Watch

White Sox 2024 Record 30-95, worst 125-game start in White Sox history (nine games worse than the next-worst, 1932 White Sox), tied for second-worst MLB start all-time, and a season-worst 65 games below .500
White Sox 2024 Run Differential -258, tied for 13th-worst 125-game start in MLB history and a White Sox season-worst
White Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 39-123 (.240)
All-Time White Sox Record (1901-2024) 9,583-9,586 (.49992)
Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) 4 games worse; need to finish 14-23 to end season 44-118
Race to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 3 games worse; need to finish 11-26 to end season 41-121
Race to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 17 games worse; need to finish season 27-10 to end season with 105 losses
Race to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 13 1⁄2 games worse; need to finish season 23-14 to end season 53-109
Race to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 1 game better; need to finish season 9-28 to finish 39-123
*record adjusted to a 162-game season

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