CHICAGO — The Cincinnati Reds collected 11 runs on 11 hits and cruised to an easy Sunday afternoon victory, completing a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox and sending them to their worst start in team history.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Nick Martini led the way for the Reds, driving in seven of Cincinnati’s 11 runs, while also accounting for both of their home runs — A pair of two-run blasts, one in the third by Encarnacion-Strand, and one in the fifth by Martini.
Jeimer Candelario laced a two-run single in the third, Tyler Stephenson connected on a RBI double in the seventh, and Jonathan India had a RBI sacrifice flyout to right field in the ninth to round out the scoring for the Reds.
In between the lines, Cincinnati worked walks and stole bases at a high clip. By game’s end, the Reds had collected eight walks and six stolen bases.
“Walks killed us and being behind the count killed us,” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol postgame. “It’s hard to win baseball games like that.”
White Sox starter Michael Soroka struggled on the mound as the right-hander continues to adjust to a new team and a new ballpark. His final line on the day was 4.2 innings pitched with five earned runs, five hits, six walks and four strikeouts.
“It was unacceptable to be out there and all over the place with the fastball,” Soroka said postgame. “That’s something I’ve done well my whole life and felt like, for whatever reason, [I was] getting out there and trying to do too much with it — Be too perfect.”
Chicago also had three errors Sunday, which led to four unearned runs by the Reds.
Historically Bad
After Sunday, the 2024 White Sox now stand at 2-13 and own the worst 15-game start in the franchise’s 124-year history, per mlb.com’s Scott Merkin.
Chicago has hit a major league-worst eight home runs (the next closest team is the Detroit Tigers with 12), and is second-to-last in team batting average and hits behind the Minnesota Twins, who are hitting .185 with 86 base knocks, compared to the White Sox’s .200 batting average with 95 hits.
On the mound, Chicago’s team ERA is 4.97 (fifth-worst in baseball) while also being bottom three in home runs allowed at 21. The only teams who have surrendered more long balls are the Tampa Bay Rays with 24, and the Toronto Blue Jays with 27.
“I think guys are pressing a little bit,” Grifol said postgame. “We got to get past that too. This can’t be the theme every single night. We got to get back to enjoying this game and relaxing and playing.”
If the White Sox continue with their current winning % (.133), they are on pace for about 22 wins this season. Chicago’s worst record all-time was in 1970, when the club went 56-106.
A better day in the batter’s box(?)
If there was a silver lining to Chicago’s seven-run loss to the Reds on Sunday, it was their bats providing some semblance of life.
Four different White Sox batters drove in a run against Cincinnati, and three managed to get on base two or more times.
Dominic Fletcher hit a RBI single back up the middle in the fourth inning, before Lenyn Sosa plated him on a misplayed fly ball into right field that allowed Fletcher to come all the way around from first to score.
Andrew Benintendi hit a ball off the left-centerfield wall in the bottom of the seventh to plate a run with the bases loaded. Two at-bats later, Gavin Sheets hit a sacrifice fly and a RBI to bring home Nicky Lopez.
Though Chicago never brought him around to score, Robbie Grossman reached base four times — Once via a single up the middle, and three times by way of base on balls.
Over his last six games with the White Sox, Grossman is 6-18 with a double, one RBI, nine walks and four strikeouts.
“I just try to get a good pitch to hit,” Grossman said before Saturday’s game. “I do a lot of work knowing what the pitcher’s trying to do with me, but also sticking to my strengths and knowing what I can do at the plate.”
Up next
The White Sox start a three game series at home Monday against the Kansas City Royals.
According to Grifol postgame, prospect Nick Nastrini will be getting the call-up to start on the mound for Chicago Monday.
Nastrini, acquired in a 2023 deadline trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, went 9-5 with a 4.08 ERA across 25 starts on the mound between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. He is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA in two starts with the Triple-A Charlotte Knights this season.
First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. Central Time.