Yoán Moncada hit a grounder up the center with two outs within the second inning Saturday.
Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, who was positioned on the second-base aspect of the bag, made a backhanded cease however didn’t have a play at first.
It was the primary hit of the sport for the Chicago White Sox in opposition to former teammate Dane Dunning. And the one hit Dunning would enable in his seven innings.
It was one other unproductive evening for the sporadic Sox offense in an 8-0 loss to the Rangers in entrance of 38,275 at Globe Life Field.
“He was locating all of his pitches like he was supposed to, and it was tough to hit him,” Sox first baseman José Abreu mentioned. “We just tip our caps to him and just try to move forward.”
Dunning struck out six and walked one as he and reliever Taylor Hearn mixed to restrict the Sox to 2 hits.
“A lot of movement down in the zone,” Sox supervisor Tony La Russa mentioned of Dunning. “Groundballs. Chased. Breaking ball out of the zone we chased. But the main thing was down in the zone, we put in the ground.”
The Sox had 12 groundouts in opposition to Dunning.
“We were taking our swings,” La Russa mentioned. “I don’t assume we had been actual pleased with our plate self-discipline. That doesn’t imply they weren’t attempting. You can attempt, however then you definitely’ve acquired to execute. We chased. (Hitting coach) Frank (Menechino) stored telling us, get the ball up.
“(Dunning kept the) ball down and he had good movement. Made pitches. Got ahead in the count. (Did) the things he’s supposed to do to get guys out.”
Dunning went 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA in seven begins for the Sox throughout the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He was the beginning pitcher for Game 3 of the American League wild-card sequence in opposition to the Oakland Athletics, retiring two batters and permitting two hits earlier than exiting within the first inning.
The Sox traded him to the Rangers that December as a part of a deal for starter Lance Lynn.
Dunning (2-6) made one earlier begin in opposition to the Sox, permitting 5 runs on eight hits in 2⅔ innings on April 23, 2021, at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Saturday was a unique story as he earned his first win since April 30 with a 103-pitch outing.
A 38-pitch third inning led to a shortened evening for Sox starter Michael Kopech. The Rangers scored three within the inning, which started with a homer from Ezequiel Duran. The different runs within the inning got here on a two-out, two-run single by Adolis García, who completed with 5 RBIs.
“I had some good pitches in the first couple of innings and went back out for the third and made a mistake pitch quick and then after that I felt like I pressed a little bit too much,” Kopech mentioned. “Put myself in a troublesome scenario, the crew in a troublesome scenario.
“It was tough on us all. At the end of the day, I have to be better from pitch to pitch.”
Kopech allowed 4 runs on 5 hits with 4 strikeouts and two walks in 3⅓ innings.
“I wasn’t doing what the team needed (Saturday), it’s why I didn’t go deeper,” Kopech mentioned. “I’ve been fairly clear that my aim each begin this 12 months is to go as deep within the recreation as I can. Take some stress and innings off the bullpen. Give us one of the best probability to win. Three-and-a-third just isn’t doing that.
“We all would have liked to play better today, but it starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball to the bullpen later.”
The Sox fell again to 3rd place, one recreation behind the second-place Cleveland Guardians within the American League Central, and path the division-leading Minnesota Twins by three.
If the Sox are going to make a push, they’ll have to indicate extra consistency offensively than the 4 runs by the primary three video games of this sequence.
“Just keep working on it,” La Russa mentioned when requested if chasing pitches may be fastened. “You can fix it because we’ve done it at times. Just have to stay on it. Haven’t cured it yet.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com