The White Sox were not only swept at home by the Pittsburgh Pirates team that was slightly below .500 entering the series, but the Sox never led at any point. They scored just five runs over three games, and all of them came after the Pirates made more convincing first moves.
That's not the note they want to go on as they head out on a six-game road trip, starting with three in St. Louis and followed by three in Cleveland. Their lead is down to 1½ games at the moment, and if the White Sox can't rediscover their offense in short order, they might arrive at Progressive Field trying to get back into first place.
Tonight, Jared Jones carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and when Colson Montgomery finally broke it up with a double off the right field wall with two outs in the inning, Jones and two Pirates relievers instead had to settle for a combined two-hit shutout.
Montgomery would've cleared the right field wall were it hit with one more degree of launch angle, and that smallest of differences ended up mattering a great deal. A solo shot would've tied the game at 1, answering a thunderous Oneil Cruz missile off Erick Fedde hit three innings earlier. Instead, Will Venable tried to get that run by pinch-running with Luisangel Acuña Jr., but Braden Montgomery's attempt to utilize the added speed by spraying an opposite-field line drive was flagged down by an onrushing Bryan Reynolds to douse the flame.
An inning later, Fedde allowed a bloop single to Jared Triolo, then a stolen base on a strikeout. He didn't have to face Cruz, but Bryan Hudson attempted to slay a fellow giant, and instead allowed a wanded two-hopper to slip between the best attempts of Munetaka Murakami and Chase Meidroth on the right side for an additional RBI that changed the complexion of the game.
From there, the White Sox needed to score multiple runs when they were having a miserable time scoring at all, and when Randal Grichuk pinch-hit for Sam Antonacci and singled off Mason Montgomery to open the ninth, Will Venable didn't have another such weapon on his bench. Edgar Quero ended up hitting for Andrew Benintendi with two outs and fanned on a high fastball to end the game. Had he somehow extended the game with anything less than a homer, then Venable would've had to count on Acuña.
That's how grim it is right now, and it spoiled another plus effort from a Fedde-centered pitching plan. Hagen Smith opened with two scoreless innings before passing the baton to the bulk boy, who got the game into the eighth in typical Fedde fashion. He struck out just one of the 20 hitters he faced, but he only walked one, which allowed Cruz's 117.4 mph jaw-dropper to only count for one run, even if it seemed worth upwards of five off the bat.
The Sox offense gave him zero support. Meidroth was the first Sox batter to reach with a leadoff walk in the third, but Tristan Peters, Jake Rogers and Sam Antonacci all struck out behind him. Miguel Vargas led off the next inning with a walk, and took it upon himself to increase the threat by stealing second and making it to third when the throw went into center, but Colson Montgomery popped out to keep him from advancing the final 90 feet.
Jones ended up retiring the next 11, although Jake Mangum's diving catch on Murakami's sinking liner signaled an arrival of more threatening contact the third time through. Colson Montgomery capitalized two batters later, or at least what counted as capitalizing in the White Sox's 11th shutout of the year.
Bullet points:
*It's also the fourth time this season the White Sox have been held to two or fewer hits.
*In an otherwise fine relief season, Hudson has allowed 12 of 21 inherited runners to score, which is the highest rate in the White Sox bullpen.
*Braden Montgomery made a nice diving catch to steal a single from Mangum in the second, but a couple other outs were less convincing.
