Royals 3, White Sox 1: Approaches deteriorate in the clutch

With a godawful performance with runners in scoring position, this looked like a game straight out of April.

Well, except the part about losing to the Royals.

The White Sox outhit the Royals 9-6, but went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position to pave the road to this loss. They botched several golden opportunities along the way.

Fourth inning: The Sox had runners on first and third with nobody out after back-to-back singles by Jose Abreu and Daniel Palka, but Avisail Garcia struck out, as did Nicky Delmonico, who chased ball four. Tim Anderson then flied out to center when a fly ball no longer would do.

Sixth inning: Jose Abreu came to the plate with runners on second and third after Yoan Moncada and Yolmer Sanchez came up with two-out hits, but he got sawed off for a groundout.

Seventh inning: Kevan Smith led off with a single, but Rick Renteria had Adam Engel bunt with two strikes again after fouling off the first two, and he struck out. Moncada then got rung up on a pitch outside, and Sanehez struck out, too.

Eighth inning: Abreu led off with a double, followed by three strikeouts.

In the end, all they could muster was a Delmonico solo shot off Brad Keller in the second, and that wasn’t enough for Dylan Covey. Covey threw better than he’d been throwing, taking a 1-0 lead into the sixth. That’s when he hit a wall, giving up a one-out homer to Alex Gordon, then a two-out double to Lucas Duda and an RBI single to Jorge Bonifacio.

That gave KC a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, although it added an insurance run the ninth thanks to a wild Luis Avilan, who issued a leadoff walk and a two-out walk. Juan Minaya came in and gave up a flared single to Alcides Escobar to make a potential comeback even tougher.

Bullet points:

*The Royals bullpen struck out eight batters over four innings.

*Avisail Garcia had a rough game, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

*The especially dumb thing about Engel’s bunt? He’d singled in his first two at-bats.

Record: 45-77 | Box score

Author

  • Jim Margalus

    Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Letโ€™s talk curling.

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Josh Nelson

This has been an awful week for Rick Renteria

https://twitter.com/JRFegan/status/1031010626024484864?s=19

I don’t understand his thought process anymore. The benching for not hustling and requiring players to bunt with two strikes is better suited for the minors or independent leagues.

MrStealYoBase

Iโ€™m hoping that everyone among the fan base can at least agree now that Renteria has no chance of leading this team into success. Whether or not the FO realizes this is another question altogether.

5742mail

Ricky, ricky, ricky has no faith in Adam Engel hitting,so he continues to have him bunt through the at bat when he should have pitch hit or let him swing,why waste a out. You can’t play defense on offense.

Trooper Galactus

If he has no faith in Adam Engel hitting (justifiably so) then maybe he should put Leury back out in center field. Or maybe he’s afraid Leury won’t show the appropriate amount of hustle after being on the DL? I dunno, I just want him gone.

Trooper Galactus

FRR

oljeto

How do you rebuild with a coacing staff that’s never built anything?
But we all know that nothing will change until JR sells. ย Sad.

roke1960

If they think Ricky is a good manager, do you trust them that this rebuild will be successful? I sure don’t.

sgp2204

I know everyone has their own opinion on bunting, but I honestly donโ€™t know what I think is worse:

1) The fact that RR insists on hunting
2) The fact that a player like Adam Engel isnโ€™t even capable of laying a bunt downย 

MrStealYoBase

Number 1 easily. Engel has actually been good overall this season at buntin and situational hitting. Why on earth heโ€™s bunting in some of those situations Iโ€™ll never know.

lil jimmy

One of the unwritten rules of baseball. Stop f——g bunting after two strikes!!!