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The Chicago White Sox’s struggles continue. They are still stuck with two wins despite having already played three weeks into their 2024 MLB regular season schedule. In yet another forgettable performance, the South Siders suffered a 2-0 loss in the opener of a three-game home series versus the Kansas City Royals on Monday.
That loss was the second time in three games that the White Sox were held scoreless. Even worse, the defeat at the hands of the Royals put Chicago in a historically bad light, as noted by Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY.
“The Chicago White Sox join the 1907 Brooklyn Superbas as the only teams in MLB history to be shut out six times in the first 16 games, per@CodifyBaseball.”
As it stands, the White Sox are only 2-14 so far this season and have not won a game since a 7-5 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on the road on Apr. 1. Since then, Chicago has lost five games in a row. It is not a good time to be a White Sox fans at the moment. Over their current five-game losing skid, they have hit just .177 and scored only 11 runs while giving up a total of 36 to their opponents and posting a 5.96 ERA. Even the return of Eloy Jiménez from a trip to the 10-day injured list did not help the White Sox against the Royals, though, he only went 0-for-1 on a pinch-hitting duty.
“I just think a lot of these guys are pressing,” manager Pedro Grifol explained following the Kansas City game, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). “But it’s not something we can talk about every single day and use that crutch. We’ve got to make adjustments, plain and simple.”
White Sox’s offense has been brutal so far
Chicago’s loss to Kansas City further highlighted the sour state of the White Sox’s offense. They failed to cobble up enough hitting to get Nick Nastrini some semblance of run support amid an otherwise start from the pitcher. Nastrini pitched for five innings and allowed just two earned runs on three hits with two free passes issued and five strikeouts before getting replaced on the mound. Four White Sox relievers combined to pitch for four scoreless innings the rest of the way, but none of them got to taste even just a run of support.
“For the most part I thought I executed my game plan really well,” Nastrinie said after his admirable debut in the big leagues, “and I was able to use my fastball the way I wanted to and I was able to use my off-speed in counts I really liked to, so I think for the most part I felt pretty good.”
While Jimenez has finally returned to action, the White Sox are still missing a couple of key hitters in Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada, who are both at least several weeks away from coming back to the field.
On the season, the White Sox have scored the fewest runs in the majors with only 34 to their belt while also slashing a horrible .196/.268/.300.
Chicago will look to have a brighter day this Tuesday in the second leg of the Royals series, with the White Sox scheduled to send another starter who will be making his MLB debut in 23-year-old righty Jonathan Cannon.
More must-reads:
- Skubal, pitching staff have Tigers on playoff trajectory
- Mets dealing with unique uniform issue this spring
- The 'Active MLB strikeout leaders' quiz
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