BALTIMORE (AP) — On this night, the futility of the Chicago White Sox could be summed up in a pair of popups.
On the first one, third baseman Miguel Vargas collided with left fielder Andrew Benintendi and three runs scored. Six innings later, another popup went to almost the same spot. Lenyn Sosa had replaced the injured Vargas at third, and Benintendi wasn’t in left anymore because he’d been ejected. This time, Sosa shied away from the ball and it fell between three Chicago fielders for a single.
The White Sox ultimately lost 9-0 to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night. Chicago has dropped 12 in a row and 109 this season.
“You can’t give anything away. Today just wasn’t our best day,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “We put the ball on the ground, we made some mistakes on the bases.”
The White Sox already trailed 3-0 when they had a runner picked off in the top of the second. Then starter Nick Nastrini walked five hitters in the bottom of the inning before being pulled with two outs. He would have been out of the jam, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Eloy Jiménez hit a popup behind third base. Benintendi seemed like he was about to catch it when Vargas collided with him.
“Just got to communicate. That’s Benintendi’s ball,” Sizemore said. “Sometimes you just don’t hear the guy calling for it.”
An error was charged to Vargas and all three runners scored to make it 7-0. To make matters worse, Vargas had to leave the game before the inning was over with an abrasion on his right eye.
By the sixth inning, the frustration boiled over. Sizemore was ejected for the first time since taking over, and Benintendi followed him moments later.
Chicago pitchers had already walked nine batters when Benintendi took a called strike that appeared a bit high. Sizemore was ejected, then came out to argue some more with plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Two pitches later, Benintendi was called out on strikes on a ball that looked a bit off the plate. He argued and was thrown out too.
“There was balls that were being called strikes and strikes being called balls, for both teams,” Sizemore said. “I get it. The game’s getting out of control, we’re down a lot. But our guys are still hitting. They’re not trying to give up their at-bats.”
Sizemore took over managing duties after the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol on Aug. 8.
The White Sox became the first team since 1900 with at least three losing streaks of 12 games in the same season, according to Sportradar. The 1889 Louisville Colonels and 1899 Cleveland Spiders also did it.
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