TAMPA, Fla. — Last year’s White Sox might have been done in by the old walk-walk-walk-balk.
That’s the predicament right-hander Davis Martin got himself into in a disastrous second inning Tuesday against the Rays. He walked three, then stutter-stepped off the mound to give Tampa Bay its first run.
Two more runs scored after a single and a throwing error on Sox center fielder Michael A. Taylor, and by the time Martin escaped, the Sox were staring at a 4-0 deficit.
That parade of miscues might’ve quickly ballooned into a blowout for the 2024 Sox, who set the major-league record for losses with 121. This year’s rebuilding squad still came up short, but it stayed in it until the last out of a 4-3 loss.
“In the dugout, everybody felt that we were going to have opportunities,’’ said Martin, who only allowed three hits after his bumpy start. ‘‘We fell short. Normally it’s, ‘Fold the tents, pack it up; we’ll go get them tomorrow.’ We are fighting, grinding for 27 outs. It’s great.
“It’s no longer [that you just] want to win. You lose and you’re [ticked off]. It’s not like how it’s been in the past.”
The Sox rebounded from another four-run deficit early in the series finale Wednesday. An RBI single from Luis Robert Jr. and a three-run blast from rookie Colson Montgomery tied the game, which the Sox ended up winning 11-9.
It’s a resilient new edge that powered the Sox to a winning road trip in their scorching start to the second half. They racked up a major-league-high 38 runs in their first five games after the All-Star break. It’s an attitude that a young team can only learn the hard way, Taylor said.
“The more experience they get, the more time they get in the league and kind of settle in — that can change things for the group,” Taylor, 34, said. “It’s kind of just a feeling, and it’s the biggest thing in the dugout. Sometimes when you get down, you can kind of feel the mood drop a little bit, and that hasn’t been the case here. We’re playing good baseball right now and believing in ourselves a little bit more than in the past.”
The Sox entered Wednesday nine games ahead of the historically bad pace of last year’s team, and they’ve had ample opportunity to win plenty more. The loss Tuesday was their 23rd decided by a run.
“We’ve had games where we had mistakes that have cost us, where we made plays that have secured wins for us,” first-year manager Will Venable said. “Everything that comes with that in the learning process is added to these guys’ growth. They have handled all these situations well, and when we haven’t, we’ve addressed it and learned from it.”
Along the way, a young bullpen has morphed into one of the best in baseball over the last month, with an American League-low 2.64 ERA from June 19 through Tuesday.
“As a group, we’re just trying to attack guys and limit walks,’’ reliever Jordan Leasure said. ‘‘Guys are definitely buzzing around here, so it’s good fun.’’
Now the question is if they can keep it up despite the clubhouse attrition looming for the next week as general manager Chris Getz maneuvers toward the trade deadline. Some of the Sox’ biggest veteran contributors figure to depart, including starter Adrian Houser (5-2, 1.89 ERA) and Luis Robert Jr. (10 home runs, 41 RBI).
“We all know what’s coming up, the deadline and things like that,” Montgomery said. “But I think we’ve all done a really good job of kind of just keeping our head down and playing one night at a time.”