For a portion of Monday afternoon, the Chicago White Sox have been trending towards the mistaken finish of historical past.
Displaying pinpoint management, Kansas City Royals starter Cole Ragans retired the primary 13 batters at Kauffman Stadium. Yoán Moncada broke up the bid for perfection, lofting a single to middle with one out within the fifth.
The Sox completed with three hits in a 12-1 loss in entrance of 10,646. Ragans allowed one hit and struck out seven in six scoreless innings.
“He’s got five pitches,” Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn mentioned. “In today’s game guys are throwing hard, but a lefty throwing 98 (mph), commanding his stuff, you don’t see like that every day.”
Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol mentioned Ragans, named the American League Pitcher of the Month for August on Sunday, was “pretty electric.”
The different two Sox hits — a double by Lenyn Sosa and an infield single by Trayce Thompson — got here within the eighth.
Chasing pitches and hitting floor balls have been points all 12 months for the Sox. According to MLB Statcast, their 33.1% chase share is the best within the majors and their 46.4% ground-ball fee is the best within the AL.
The Sox grounded out 12 instances Monday.
“You hit ground balls in this league, you’re not going to fare well,” Grifol mentioned. “We have to elevate the baseball. That guy did a good job of keeping the ball down and inducing those ground balls. But you’ve still got to make adjustments and get the ball in the air.”
The Sox have misplaced six of seven, scoring two or fewer runs in 5 of these defeats.
“Just trying to drive the ball, that’s the biggest thing,” Vaughn mentioned. “Put it in the gap, try to do damage. Just get good at-bats and put a good swing on it.”
The Royals hit three homers — two in opposition to starter Jesse Scholtens — because the Sox (53-85) fell to a season-high 32 video games underneath .500.
Asked about total effort, Grifol mentioned: “In video games like that you simply’re all the time going to get inconsistent effort. Am I OK with it? No, I’m not. Am I going to deal with it? Yes, I’m.
“I’m not going to get too deep in the effort. I didn’t like it for the most part and we’ll address it.”
Luis Robert Jr. goals for Wednesday return
The Sox middle fielder was out of the lineup for the third straight sport with proper quadriceps cramping. Before the sport, Grifol mentioned Robert is “day to day” and possibly wouldn’t play Tuesday.
“He’s feeling way better, which is really encouraging,” Grifol mentioned. “We’re capturing for perhaps Wednesday. Which could be good as a result of Thursday’s off and we will return to his regular schedule Friday. The most necessary factor is he’s manner higher.
“The cramp was significant enough to kind of linger for a couple days. And we just want to make sure he’s completely healthy, that’s all.”
Grifol mentioned reliever Jimmy Lambert has had ankle discomfort “for a while.”
The Sox positioned the right-hander on the 15-day injured checklist with proper ankle irritation. He left Sunday’s sport in opposition to the Detroit Tigers whereas dealing with his second batter.
“It was clear that yesterday he was pitching with some discomfort and there’s no need for that, so he’s getting evaluated by the doctors and we’ll see where it goes,” Grifol mentioned.
In the corresponding transfer, the Sox recalled right-hander Declan Cronin from Triple-A Charlotte.
Seby Zavala designated for task
Before the sport, the Sox returned Zavala from his harm rehabilitation task at Charlotte, reinstated him from the injured checklist and designated him for task.
Zavala went on the IL on Aug. 3 with a strained left indirect. He’s hitting .155 with seven dwelling runs and 16 RBIs in 66 video games this season.
“We acquired a couple catchers in those (deadline) trades and one is obviously Korey Lee, and the (September) rosters unfortunately only carry 28 and we can’t carry three (catchers),” Grifol mentioned. “He’s out of (minor-league) options. It’s unfortunate. He has major-league value for somebody. Probably if we had one other spot he’d be here, but we don’t have that spot.”
The Sox chosen Zavala within the twelfth spherical of the 2015 draft out of San Diego State. He has a profession .205 common with 14 dwelling runs and 52 RBIs in 4 seasons with the Sox.
He hit three homers, together with a grand slam, in a July 31, 2021, sport in opposition to Cleveland. Zavala homered and drew a key stroll forward of Tim Anderson’s game-winning dwelling run in opposition to the New York Yankees within the inaugural Field of Dreams sport on Aug. 12, 2021, in Dyersville, Iowa.
“I like him catching-wise,” Grifol mentioned. “Obviously, offensively he didn’t have the year he wanted to have. But he knows what he’s doing back there, he knows how to handle a staff and I’m hoping for nothing but great things from him.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com