On Saturday, the White Sox played their longest game of the season.
Today, they played their most frustrating one. Whether it was getting handcuffed by a pitcher with an 8.87 ERA, who took forever around cramping issues to complete his last inning of work, hitting into bad luck, running themselves out an inning, or committing an error that led to the decisive run, the White Sox will head back to Chicago after a 1-5 Texas road trip with a five-game losing streak and a lot to think about.
Will Venable didn't make it out of the first inning, as he chewed out home plate umpire Marvin Hudson for missing a 3-2 strike call on Aaron Civale's first batter as a White Sox when the next borderline opportunity presented itself. It made an impression.
"Any time the manager goes and fights for the players that's an awesome sign," Civale said about the latest strange occurrence in what has to be an all-time weird week for him. "When you have each other's backs, that's how you know you're in a good position and the culture's good."
"There was early frustration, you could call it," Venable said. "Obviously you saw what happened."
He didn't miss much. Kumar Rocker limited the Sox to just four singles and a walk over five shutout innings. Their best opportunity to tag him came in the fifth, when Josh Rojas singled with one out and stole second. Throughout the inning, Rocker dealt with cramping issues, resulting in a very long trainer's visit/hydration session before Rojas' at-bat, and then another hydration session via the batboy later in the inning as various White Sox looked around for any sense of urgency on behalf of the umpires. Chase Meidroth couldn't capitalize, grounding out to short to strand Rojas on third.
In the seventh, the Sox tried another stolen base with Rojas, after his one-out single moved Ryan Noda to third. This one was unsuccessful, which had the added detriment of taking a sac fly opportunity away from Mike Tauchman, who was then called out on strikes to end the inning.
"You’re making a move, one - expecting to steal the base successfully," Venable explained. "You’re expecting to be in a good spot after that. It was just one of those plays where we had a little something on the pitcher, thought it was a good opportunity to go and it just didn’t work out."
An inning later, Andrew Benintendi reached on a one-out double, where he was replaced by Luis Robert Jr. Robert advanced to third two batters later on Kyle Teel's infield single, but while Edgar Quero battled Cole Winn with two outs, his seventh-pitch, 102.3 mph line drive found Corey Seager up the middle to end the inning.
Unfortunately for the White Sox, Robert entered after Benintendi committed a costly error in the fifth. Josh Smith reached on an infield single, then took third on Benintendi, who struggled to corral the hop. That set up a sacrifice fly, although it still resulted in an earned run on Civale's tab since Marcus Semien followed with a ground-rule double before Civale could record the third out.
Civale labored in his White Sox debut after coming to the organization Friday in the Andrew Vaughn trade. He struggled with his location early, walking three batters in the first inning around a double play that cleared the bases, then issuing a leadoff walk in the second that came around to score. Walker McKinven was able to use him like a veteran, though, as Civale threw 104 pitches to complete his five innings of work. The Rangers had their opportunties against him and four White Sox relievers, but went 0-for-7 with 11 stranded to keep the game within reach.
Alas, Teel's infield single was the only White Sox hit with runners in scoring position, but it didn't actually result in a run. Instead, the Sox's only tally came on a Vargas solo shot in the sixth inning, and given how the rest of the afternoon unfolded, it's a miracle that it cleared Wyatt Langford's glove, because it looked for a few seconds like he might've come down with it.
Bullet points:
*Venable has been ejected twice this season -- Mother's Day and Father's Day.
"I was unaware of that, but that is an interesting coincidence," Venable acknowledged.
*McKinven made a mound visit before Civale's final batter, asking him if he could handle one more hitter, before he struck out Jake Burger to strand a pair of runners. Civale was delighted by the gesture.
"Any time you do that, you're giving that guy a lot of confidence and a lot of energy," Civale said. "It was definitely an adrenaline boost when that happens. I don't know or I can't remember the last time that's happened for me. It's a confidence booster. It's a cool thing. It's unique."
*The White Sox are now 4-19 in one-run games.
*Half of the White Sox's three-hour games came during this series. This one lasted three hours even due to Rocker's cramping issues and four mid-inning pitching changes.
*Both teams struggled in the clutch all weekend. The White Sox were 4-for-26, while the Rangers finished 5-for-37
*The White Sox struck out 12 times, giving then six 10-strikeout games in the last seven.
