After winning home games at a 66% clip before the All-Star break, the White Sox suddenly are finding Rate Field to be a tougher place to play.
With their 3-2 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday, the Sox fell to 1-4 on their first homestand after the break. Maybe it’s the law of averages taking hold. Or maybe it’s the quality of the opponents. Either way, it doesn’t bode well for the Sox, who are in the midst of a 13-game stretch against teams currently in playoff position.
“I think it just kind of unfolds that way,” Sox manager Will Venable said of his team’s home rut. “There’s not one thing that we can point to in our preparation or how we’re going about things any differently at home or on the road. Sometimes it’s just how the chips fall.
“This stretch here at home just hasn’t been as clean and as good as we have hoped for, but got an opportunity tomorrow.”
The Sox had one opportunity to score against veteran right-hander Gerrit Cole and couldn’t cash in. Munetaka Murakami doubled to lead off the fourth, and Miguel Vargas followed with a walk. After Colson Montgomery flied out, Andrew Benintendi advanced the runners with a groundout. Braden Montgomery walked to load the bases, but Tristan Peters popped out.
“He was really good,” Venable said of Cole, who allowed two walks and four hits and struck out seven in six scoreless innings. “Established the fastball, which we expected him to do. Really good slider. Traffic there in the fourth, but couldn’t push anything across.”
The Yankees pushed three across against Sox left-hander Anthony Kay in the second, and that proved to be just enough. After striking out the side for the first time in his major-league career in the first inning, Kay allowed two singles to start the second. Both advanced on a wild pitch.
Anthony Volpe followed with a double off the wall in center field, but only one runner scored because Peters had a chance to catch it. One out later, Max Schuemann took advantage of the infield playing in by chopping one over Vargas’ head at third, scoring two runs.
Venable defended playing the infield in so early in the game.
“We don’t want them to score anymore,” he said. “That’s the play for us. That’s something that we’ve been aggressive with all year. Obviously, when it doesn’t work out, you stand up here and explain why. But it was the right time to do it. Just one of those moves that doesn’t work out.”
Otherwise, Kay was sharp. He allowed three runs, five hits and one walk and struck out seven.
“It was really good,” he said. “Other than that second inning, it was probably the best command I’ve had all year. [The ball] just feels smooth coming out of my hand. Overall, it’s just been better.
“We’re trying to be a little bit more explosive on the leg kick. I feel like in the past, it’s just been a little, not lazy, just a little slow from the top. And now we’re working on being a little bit more explosive out of the top and trying to get down the mound a little bit faster.”
The Sox finally got on the board in the ninth against closer David Bednar. Rookie Braden Montgomery, the only Sox player with two hits in the game, singled and scored on Chase Meidroth’s two-out homer. But pinch hitter Everson Pereira struck out to end it.
Now the Sox will look to salvage a split with the Yankees after dropping a sloppy game Monday and a tough one Tuesday — before things get even tougher with road series against the American League-leading Rays and the resurgent Red Sox.
“The main point right now is defensively to clean some things up, baserunning-wise clean some things up, which I thought we did a good job of today,” Venable said. “Got to keep moving forward, find ways to score against some really good pitchers.”