It's going to be tough for the White Sox to win any game when their four best most recognizable hitters go 0-for-16, especially when Michael Soroka is on the mound.
That's not necessarily a knock on Soroka, who pitched well enough this evening to be considered "not the problem." He just can't win a game by himself, and the White Sox didn't give him much support in any facet of the game. The Sox mustered a mere six hits and a walk, with Paul DeJong's solo shot with two outs in the seventh providing the only run.
Alas, a DeJong error basically helped put the game away for the Rays in the third inning.
Soroka returned to the mound that inning coming off a difficult second. He'd given up a line-drive RBI single to Harold Ramirez and still faced the bases loaded with nobody out, but he traded a run for two outs on a Ben Rortvedt 6-3 double play, and José Caballero's attempt to surprise everybody with a safety squeeze resulted in a routine 1-3.
But then DeJong opened the third by matadoring a routine Yandy Díaz grounder, and while Soroka struck out Josh Lowe, he couldn't put away Randy Arozarena. He got ahead 0-2, but seven pitches later, Soroka hung a slider, and Arozarena lofted a two-run shot to left to give Tampa a 4-0 lead.
That proved insurmountable for the White Sox offense, even though the bottom two spots did a good job of turning the order over for the alleged big bats.
Their best opportunity came in the fifth, when they loaded the bases on singles by DeJong and Lee, and Lee outracing a fielder's choice attempt at second after Caballero couldn't glove Nicky Lopez's grounder cleanly. Zach Eflin then fell behind Gavin Sheets 3-0.
One pitch later, Eflin escaped the threat. Sheets took the 3-0 green light, and while Eflin threw an elevated singer on the outer half, Sheets caught it off the end of the bat and flied out to right to leave them loaded.
Sheets had another opportunity in the seventh with two outs and two on after singles by Lee and Lopez kept the inning alive, but he tapped out to the left side. The White Sox went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position with eight stranded, and Sheets accounted for half the former, and five of the latter.
Bullet points:
*Brad Keller finished out the game, with an Isaac Paredes solo shot accounting for the only damage.
*Korey Lee cut down another runner at second, this time Randy Arozarena in the first inning.
*DeJong's error was all the more befuddling because he later made a nice sliding stop and throw on a tougher play to his right.
