Cardinals 4, White Sox 0: Too much sacrificed

The White Sox played for one run three times.

Thanks to an 0-for-10 performance with runners in scoring position, they scored zero runs in those three innings, and the other six as well.

In the process, they wasted another beautiful start by Carlos Rodón, who gave up only one hit over six innings but got tagged with the loss because that hit was a Tommy Edman solo homer. They also lost two bodies, as both Adam Eaton and Michael Kopech left the game with hamstring issues.

Kopech’s was the scarier of the two. Tasked with preserving the one-run deficit in the seventh after Rodón departed, Kopech worked around a walk to throw a scoreless inning. However, on the last pitch, he tumbled awkwardly to the ground, then flopped around the mound while attempting to determine the contact. Once Yoán Moncada caught the pop-up to end the inning, Kopech hobbled off the field.

If the inning weren’t over, we would’ve had a better idea of the incident’s severity based on whether Kopech threw any warm-up tosses to test his leg, and how those pitches went. There’s nothing to read from Kopech not returning to pitch the eighth, and the White Sox said he’s day-to-day with left hamstring soreness.

Eaton’s hamstring might be worse than Kopech’s, but if it is, we can’t say we didn’t have warning. He’s been hitting .125/.269/.214 in the 20 games since he fell down three times on April 27 against the Tigers. He went 0-for-1 with a walk and a stolen base before he was replaced defensively by Billy Hamilton in the top of the sixth.

The White Sox couldn’t blame all of their issues on bunts, or injuries, or on a getaway day lineup that didn’t have Tim Anderson and Yasmani Grandal. The White Sox were able to get scoring opportunities to the heart of their lineup against John Gant and Co., but Yoán Moncada struck out with two on and one out in his best oppportunity, José Abreu went 1-for-4 with six stranded, and Yermín Mercedes fared the worst of all by going 0-for-4 while having 10 runners on base over the course of his at-bats. He lined out to left with the bases loaded in the first, resulting in a 7-2 double play when Eaton was cut down at home, and that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

When they scuffle that much, it renders small ball moot. The White Sox bunted runners over in the third, sixth and seventh innings to no avail.

All of the struggles on the offensive side of the plate overshadowed a tremendous afternoon for Rodón, whose misplaced changeup to Tommy Edman in the third inning was apparently insurmountable. Rodón wisely spent the rest of the afternoon largely leaning on his fastball, because he kept finding more in the tank. He generated 16 whiffs on 62 fastballs alone, including his final pitch of the game that blew past Paul Goldschmidt at an even 100 mph.

Rodón finished his afternoon with 10 strikeouts and zero walks over six innings, which will put him in rare company if he can do it again.

There is a little bit of corner-cutting involved. While Rodón didn’t walk anybody, he did plunk two hitters on 3-2 counts.

Speaking of gaining an edge, Cardinals reliever Giovany Gallegos was told by Joe West to change caps upon entering the game in the seventh inning after he had some sort of substance on the center of his bill. He didn’t seem to put up much of a fight, but Mike Shildt did on his behalf, and the St. Louis manager was ejected.

Bullet points:

*Aaron Bummer also gave up a solo homer to Edman, marring what was otherwise a return to form.

*José Ruiz has given up a run in six straight appearances, as the Peter Principle continues to stick it to him.

*Nick Madrigal went 3-for-4 with a walk from the leadoff spot, but he ended up with half of the White Sox’s hits on the day.

Record: 28-20 | Box score | Statcast

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