White Sox have three red flags right now
The White Sox threw another late scare into the Orioles Thursday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field, but they came up short again, falling 5-3.
Here are three things we learned on the Sox’ first homestand, which ended with a 3-4 record:
Strikeouts:
Last year, Adam Dunn set a franchise record when he went down on strikes 177 times.
Dunn is actually off to a pretty good start this season, and he had another RBI double Thursday.
Dunn also struck out twice, and Baltimore starter Jason Hammel and three relievers combined for 16 strikeouts in the game.
Through the first 12 games, the White Sox have struck out a whopping 111 times. Dunn leads the way with 21, the most strikeouts in the American League. Heading into Thursday, teammate Brent Morel was second with 18 Ks.
Dayan Viciedo (12 strikeouts), Gordon Beckham (12) and Alejandro De Aza (10) are also in double digits.
“I can’t speak for everyone, I know me, I think I’m being a little too selective and when I’m getting myself in hitter’s counts they are making kind of pitcher’s pitches,” Dunn said. “I’m usually able to lay off and I’m swinging at them. But I’m really not worried about that. I’m worried about the position my body is in when the ball crosses the plate.”
Strikeouts really hurt the Sox on Thursday as they lost for the third time in the four-game series with the Orioles.
Alex Rios took a called third strike with the bases loaded to end the game. With runners on second and third and one out in the eighth inning, Viciedo and Tyler Flowers struck out.
“I think some of them you can put down as maybe not having the right approach,” manager Robin Ventura said. “Some of them are just good pitches. It’s going to happen. You just try to learn from it and work on it and cut those down.”
High pitch counts:
With the exception of Jake Peavy, the White Sox’ starting rotation was plagued by poor command on the homestand.
Gavin Floyd was on the mound Thursday, and he threw 117 pitches over 6 innings while allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks.
“You want to keep the team in the game a little bit better,” Floyd said. “You just try to focus on each pitch. I’m in there trying to get that first batter out as much as I’m trying to get the last batter out.”
On Tuesday, John Danks threw 102 pitches in 7 innings. On Monday, Philip Humber threw 115 pitches in 5 innings. And on Sunday, Chris Sale threw 102 pitches in 5 innings.
Coming up short:
The Sox insist there is a never-say-die attitude in the dugout, but they fell short Thursday and also failed to cap a rally in the ninth inning Tuesday night.
“It’s like you’re getting close and it’s just not happening,” Ventura said. “I look at more of they’re still grinding it out even though they’re down. Eventually, those will push through and it will be different. It’s frustrating when you get that close.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com