Takeaways From White Sox Series Against Athletics

The White Sox wrapped up their 10-game road trip Sunday with a 3-2 loss to the Athletics in extra innings. A road trip that spanned three cities in three time zones and 5,302 air miles traveled ended with a 3-7 record, including one win in each series against the Red Sox, Twins and Athletics.

That dropped the White Sox record to an American League-worst 7-21, which puts them 11 games behind the Tigers for the AL Central lead and five games behind the Twins for fourth place in the division. The White Sox have Monday off before a six-game homestand against the Brewers and Astros, beginning Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. CT at Rate Field.

But before looking too far ahead, here are three takeaways from the White Sox series loss to the Athletics.

1. New pitching strategy off to good start

The White Sox used an opener in all three games against the Athletics, and it worked well. Sure, they still lost two of three games, but not all because of this new strategy. The idea behind using an opener is that the usual starter will avoid facing the top of the order a third time until much later in the game. In theory, the opposing team's best hitters won't be able to settle into the starter's pitching style.

Manager Will Venable used left-hander Tyler Gilbert as the opener in the first two games. He pitched one inning both days, allowing two total base runners and striking out three batters. On Friday, things went according to play as Sean Burke – who had a 6.23 ERA across his first five starts – replaced Gilbert in the second and held the A's scoreless through the next three innings.

But in Burke's second and third time facing five-hitter Jacob Wilson, he allowed a solo home run and a two-run double, both on sliders. One of those runs was unearned due to an error by center fielder Luis Robert Jr. Burke's day was done after walking Luis Urias in the seventh, and that run came in to score when Jared Shuster allowed a double to Brent Rooker. Burke took the loss, but he gave the White Sox a chance to win as he exited in a 3-3 tie.

Gilbert opened again on Saturday before Venable went to usual starter Jonathan Cannon, whose 7.2 innings made for his longest outing of the year. After allowing a double to Rooker in the fourth, two groundouts brought in the A's first run, and they scored again in the seventh on an Urias solo home run. Cannon nearly finished things off, but he was pulled with two outs in the ninth after an RBI single by Nick Kurtz. It was certainly a step in the right direction for Cannon, who earned his first win of the season and lowered his ERA to 4.50.

Left-hander Brandon Eisert opened Sunday's game and allowed an RBI double to Rooker in his lone inning. The strategy didn't work from the standpoint that Eisert gave up a run, but it arguably benefitted Davis Martin, a usual starter who came in for the second inning.

Facing the A's six-hitter to begin, Martin retired the first three batters on his way to his best outing of the season. He tossed six scoreless innings with three hits, two walks and five strikeouts. That marked his second straight outing with zero earned runs, though the Twins scored two unearned runs in Martin's last start. It also tied his longest outing of the year and his season-low in hits allowed. But the White Sox couldn't turn Martin's strong performance into a win as Jordan Leasure allowed a walk-off, two-run home run to Urias in the 10th.

2. Andrew Vaughn's slow start continues

White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn went 1-for-11 with a single, a run scored, one RBI, two walks and a strikeout in three games against the Athletics. After his lone hit of the series, he was caught in a rundown between third base and home with the game tied 1-1. The White Sox had runners on second and third with one out, but they were unable to bring in the go-ahead run.

It looked as though Vaughn may have been starting to heat up last week, when he notched five hits in a four-game stretch against the Red Sox and Twins. But he couldn't maintain that progress against the A's.

Vaughn's batting average has fallen to .157 across 109 plate appearances, along with a .202 on-base-percentage, a .275 slugging percentage and a .476 OPS. It's a small sample size, but each of those numbers would be career-lows in a season by a wide margin.

There are a few reasons to believe Vaughn could turn things around, such as his .485 expected slugging percentage, which is in the 75th percentile in MLB. His average exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, barrel percentage and squared-up percentage rank between the 79th and 88th percentile, which means he's hitting the ball hard but not getting results.

3. Close losses adding up

The White Sox began the series with a 6-5 loss on Friday and ended it Sunday with a 3-2 loss in extra innings. They led Friday's game 3-1 before allowing two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings, as well as one run in the eighth. They took a one-run lead in the 10th inning on Sunday, thanks to a Robert RBI single, but gave it right back as Leasure allowed a two-run home run to Urias, who clinched the series win for the A's.

With those two defeats, the White Sox have now lost eight games by just one run. They've also lost four games by two runs. Their 7-21 record is the worst in the American League behind the 10-17 Orioles, and it's the second worst in MLB as the Rockies are off to a 4-23 start.

Five teams have a worse run differential than the White Sox at minus-25 – the Rockies, Orioles, Marlins, Blue Jays and Angels – and the Pirates are tied. A few key reasons for the high amount of losses by one and two runs include the White Sox's .179 batting average with runners and scoring position and their relief pitchers' minus-11.22 win probability added, both of which rank last in MLB.

1. New pitching strategy off to good start

2. Andrew Vaughn's slow start continues

3. Close losses adding up

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