Chicago White Sox Match Longest Losing Streak Of Season After Cardinals Doubleheader

CHICAGO –– The White Sox seemed to be on the right track after their last homestand, winning four of five games against the Royals and MLB-leading Tigers. That tied their best five-game stretch of the season, with young players like Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero, Shane Smith and others hitting their stride.

But after a road trip to Texas and a home series against the Cardinals, the results have gone in the opposite direction. The White were competitive in Texas, but lost their last four games to the Astros and Rangers by a combined five runs. A home series against the Cardinals came with a series-opening blowout, followed by a few more close games.

With scores of 12-2, 5-4 and 8-6 in a series sweep to the Cardinals at Rate Field, the White Sox losing streak extended to eight games. That matches the longest losing streak of the season, previously set from April 1-10 against the Twins, Tigers and Guardians. It also drops the White Sox to 23-52, a season-worst 29 games below .500.

Despite the poor results, manager Will Venable doesn't think the numbers in the win and loss columns are negatively affecting his team's morale.

"Absolutely not," he said. "Credit to them, they come every day and excited and ready to play. I get the sense that we’ve always turned the page and done a good job with that. It’s become apparent in our effort in response to tough times. That’s what we do. These guys have done it all year and continue to do it."

All hands were on deck from the pitching staff for Thursday's doubleheader, with Sean Burke taking the mound to begin Game 1. He faced early trouble, as the Cardinals scored on a sacrifice fly just batters into the game. But he settled in well, allowing just one hit against the next 12 batters.

Burke gave the White Sox a chance to win, pitching 5.1 innings with four hits, two runs, one earned run, two walks and seven strikeouts. A run was credited to his line after he exited the game, as Brandon Eisert walked in a run one batter after the White So intentionally walked Nolan Arenado to load the bases.

That tied the game at 2-2, but Burke had mostly positive takeaways from his start.

"I felt good overall," Burke said. "Thought the curveball was good today. Fastball felt good. I thought I mixed some good two-seams to get guys off the four-seam.  Slider felt good. I feel like there was a couple sliders I threw a little too middle, but other than that, felt pretty good with everything."

Michael A. Taylor gave the White Sox a 4-2 lead in the sixth with a two-run home run off Cardinals reliever Steven Matz. He replaced former White Sox pitcher Erick Fedde, who was traded as part of the Miguel Vargas deal last summer and gave up one earned run across five innings on Friday.

The Cardinals were quick to respond, as Willson Contreras blasted a two-run home run off White Sox reliever Cam Booser to tie the game 4-4. Booser should have recorded an out in the next at-bat, but he overthrew Miguel Vargas at first base after fielding a soft ground ball from Nolan Gorman.

Capitalizing on that mistake, the Cardinals took a 5-4 lead later in the sixth with a single by Yohel Pozo. That was enough for St. Louis to secure the series win, as the White Sox record in one-run games fell to 4-20.

"Gotta find a way. That’s what this is about for us," Venable said. "We talked about it. Credit to the guys for being in this spot for playing so many close games. Now we have to make that one play, one pitch, one hit to get over the hump. We have to keep going."

Mike Vasil took the ball to start Game 2 with a 1.99 ERA, best among MLB rookies with at least 45 innings. His third start came with some good and bad, striking out a career-high six batters while also giving up a career-high six runs. Vasil hadn't given up more than two earned runs in any previous appearance, and he notched 14 shutouts while serving as a starter and a reliever.

The White Sox took an early 1-0 lead with Ryan Noda's first home run – and hit – of the season, but the Cardinals regained the lead with a four-run third inning. Alec Burleson and Nolan Arenado hit back-to-back home runs off Vasil, whose day was done in the next inning after allowing a two-run double to Contreras.

Burleson's home run came on an 0-2 fastball way above the zone.

"I think if you look at it from a perspective of like where it was, it wasn't necessarily bad," Vasil said. "But I think it was more who I was facing. So just do a little bit better job with that. And then the other stuff, guys are gonna get hits sometimes and you're just gonna have one of those days. So did, I feel, a lot of the little things right. Get to two strikes, get ahead."

"The stuff felt great. I think sometimes that's baseball. I think last week I didn't really feel I was in control. Tonight, I felt a lot more in control, but the result didn't go my way. So I think in terms of how I attack hitters and approach outings, I would rather take the way I did it tonight over the long run than last week. So sometimes the result just isn't there."

The Cardinals appeared to be cruising to another win, as they maintained a 6-1 lead after the seventh-inning stretch. The White Sox chipped away with an RBI single by Mike Tauchman, and all of a sudden, they loaded the bases for Andrew Benintendi. With two outs, Benintendi jumped on a first-pitch slider that hung over the plate and drove it 401 feet over the right field wall to tie the game.

The White Sox put runners on base in the eighth and ninth innings, but couldn't come through with a clutch hit to seal it. That meant extra innings in Game 2 of the doubleheader, because 18 innings weren't enough for one day.

With a runner automatically placed on third to begin the game, Nolan Arenado broke the tie with a single before getting thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw. Lars Nootbaar made it an 8-6 Cardinals lead with a solo home run in the next at-bat.

It was yet another loss where the White Sox came up just short.

"It's tough. It's tough to come close and not win," Vasil said. "But I think it speaks volumes, as well, that we just don't give in. There's been a lot of these games where we're coming back and we're right there. Eventually, it'll flip. But we don't give up. Beni with that huge swing tonight and the bullpen being able to throw as many innings as they did today and all around just a team effort for 19-20 innings, whatever it was, is really, really impressive."

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