NEW YORK — The White Sox have been a revelation playing at home this season. They’ve had fantastic finishes and drawn big, loud crowds. And they’ve repaid the fans’ efforts, going 24-12 at Rate Field with a plus-32 run differential.
But when they leave town, they often forget to pack their mojo.
Away from home, the Sox are 14-22 with a minus-35 run differential after their 10-5 loss to the Yankees on Wednesday. Some of their worst losses of the season have come on the road, including a 12-2 thumping at the hands of the Yankees on Tuesday.
Manager Will Venable disputed the notion that the Sox have had problems on the road, but he didn’t completely dismiss it.
“We’ve played all right on the road,” he said. “It’s tough to come into some places and battle against some of these teams. Obviously, at home, we have a special environment, which the guys respond to. We’ve played exceptionally well at home.
“But as far as characterizing us as a team that’s struggling on the road, I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I think we’ve run up against some tough matchups and maybe haven’t played our best games. But certainly [there’s] something special at home and just got to find ways on the road.”
Right-hander Davis Martin, who had his worst start of the season Tuesday, lent more credence to the issue.
“We’re playing really good baseball at home, and then you come to a hostile environment like the Bronx,” he said after the game. “It’s not like this is some random stadium, this is New York. This is a hard place to play.
“It’s a great place for us to learn how to play in big-time spots on the road. We have dreams and aspirations of making it to the playoffs this year. We don’t play all those games at home. We have to learn how to play good baseball on the road.”
The Sox put up more of a fight Wednesday than they did Tuesday. Colson Montgomery hit two home runs for his first career multihomer game, and the Sox nearly tripled their hit total from the night before (11-4).
But the Yankees were too much — again — hitting three homers and totalling 13 hits.
“Got to credit the Yankees for making a ton of contact throughout the game, throughout the lineup,” Venable said. “A relentless effort by them, and we didn’t really have any answers for them.”
Starter Anthony Kay had one for the two-run homer he allowed to Cody Bellinger in the first inning.
“I feel I got a little bit unlucky,” said Kay, who allowed four runs in four innings. “That Belli ball was hit 92 [mph] with an expected batting average of .070. So that’s kind of Yankee Stadium luck right there.
“Just grinding through some long at-bats was the problem early on. I think once I started attacking, got ahead earlier, the third and fourth inning went a little better than the first two.”
Lefty reliever Sean Newcomb took the Yankees’ beating physically. He got drilled in the left tricep by a 98.6 mph comebacker off the bat of Anthony Volpe in the fifth. He left with a bruise but said after the game he should be fine.
That was nothing compared to the hit Everson Pereira took from the center-field wall to end the seventh. Ben Rice sent a ball 400 feet — with an expected batting average of .830 — but Pereira ran it down and crashed into the wall. He lay there woozy but eventually, and slowly, walked off the field. After the game, he said he felt better but was being tested for a concussion.
The Sox fell to 4-3 in this stretch against first-place clubs, with one more against the Yankees on Thursday, and these last two games have left marks.
“These last two have been tough,” Venable said, “but these guys continue to battle and put themselves in good spots.”