Blue Jays 3, White Sox 1: Days of Our Lives

How rare are wins on the South Side these days? You search “winning White Sox pitcher” into our image database and it spits out a picture from the dead ball days; 15-42 is really a hell of a number, isn’t it?

I’ll say one thing for these White Sox: They make recapping work really easy, even against a struggling team like the Toronto Blue Jays, who are struggling no more after completing a three-game sweep, handing the Sox their eighth straight loss in 3-1 fashion. That eight-game losing streak is somehow their longest of the season, a fact that was genuinely surprising to me, given how often it feels like we’ve been here before. But additional history was made, as the White Sox, in rolling over to the Baltimore Orioles for four and now Toronto for three, just completed the first 0-7 homestand in franchise history.

A two-out Korey Lee homer in the ninth inning rescued them from their 11th shutout of the season, turning this game instead into their eighth one-run game of 2024. But that’s about all there is to write home about, because tonight at the park was as dead and lifeless as the season on the whole.

Very little of note happened in this game. In fact, very little is doing a little bit more heavy lifting than I’d like. The White Sox offense was shut out for 26 outs, and held to a grand total of three hits prior to the Lee homer than finally scratched the scoreboard: a single apiece from Corey Julks, Andrew Vaughn, and Paul DeJong. I could have told you none of that, and you still wouldn’t have missed out on anything. If it weren’t for the fact of Alek Manoah’s injury, this would be one of the more un-recappable recaps I’ve ever had the pleasure of conjuring. It was just that predictable and unremarkable.

If there was anything at all to look forward to entering this game, it was probably a glimpse at the status moving forward of Manoah, the third-place finisher in 2022 Cy Young balloting who more or less pitched his way out of the majors a year later. If there was still hope of Manoah recapturing his ace form in time to rescue this disastrous Blue Jays season, the White Sox lineup was as good of a chance as he’ll have this year to get himself back into form.

Unfortunately, nature had other plans. Manoah looked sharp to start the game, working a 1-2-3 inning to start the game, but he never finished the second, departing after two outs with an unspecified elbow injury — never a good sign for any pitcher, much less one with an extended injury history like Manoah.

At the time of Manoah’s departure, it looked like it could still be a ballgame. Chris Flexen came out dealing, striking out the side in his half of the first inning, and despite putting a couple runners on in the second, his stuff was undeniably sharp, punching out two more for five of his first six outs.

Unfortunately for the Sox, Trevor Richards came out of the bullpen to succeed Manoah and looked like the Manoah of old, bamboozling Sox hitters with an excellent right-handed changeup and shutting them down for 3 2⁄3 innings to earn the win. The first of those outs, naturally, stranded Vaughn on third base after having made it that far without a single out. Offense, baby!

Flexen’s dealing didn’t last much longer, either, with Toronto scratching their first run across in the third inning when a leadoff walk was followed up by a pair of singles from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette:

Virtually the same thing happened an inning later, when George Springer led off the fourth with a walk and came around to score several batters later, on a single from Isiah Kiner-Falefa:

Flexen made it through one more inning without getting scratched, finishing his day with a respectable line of five innings pitched and two earned runs, walking a season-high five but punching out six, his second-highest total of the season. He was succeeded by the newly-recalled Justin Anderson, who picked up the vibe pretty much right away and immediately allowed a run on a set of dinky hits.

It was a quiet rest of the evening for a crowd of just shy of 12,000 on the South Side. Jordan Leasure, Tanner Banks, and Michael Kopech all threw scoreless innings to close the book for Sox pitching, allowing a total of two baserunners among them. On the opposing side, Richards’ heroic effort out of the bullpen was followed by scoreless frames from Tim Mayza, Zach Pop, and Yimi Garcia. Closer Jordan Romano picked up his eighth save of the year despite giving up that aforementioned dinger to Lee, which finally got the Sox on the board for those who cared to stay long enough to see it:

Bring on the fireworks! Fortunately for everyone involved, the Sox won’t have the chance to do that at home for a couple more weeks, as they’ll take tomorrow off before heading up the Kennedy for a three-gamer with the first-place Brew Crew in Milwaukee. Enjoy your Thursday, all — can’t lose when you don’t play! Live long and prosper, I guess?

Futility Watch

White Sox 2024 Record 15-42, worst 57-game start in White Sox history (THREE games ahead the 2018 White Sox) and tied for the 12th-worst start in MLB historyWhite Sox 2024 Run Differential -127, tied for 19th-worst 57-game start in MLB historyWhite Sox 2024 Season Record Pace 43-119 (.263)Race to the Worst “Modern” 162-Game Record (2003 Tigers, 43-119) EVENRace to the Worst “Modern” Record in a 162-Game Season (1962 Mets, 40-120) 2 games behindRace to the Most White Sox Losses (1970, 106) 13 games aheadRace to the Worst White Sox Record (1932, 52-109-1*) 9 1⁄2 games aheadRace to the Worst American League Record (1916 A’s, 38-124*) 5 games behind*record adjusted to a 162-game season