The scoring rut continued Monday for the Chicago White Sox in a 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
The Sox were held to three runs in three games while being swept over the weekend in Cleveland. The scuffles continued Monday as they returned to Rate Field to begin their final homestand of the season.
“(Going) back to that Cleveland series, there were some good at-bats there,” manager Will Venable said. “They made, it seemed, like every (defensive) play. And tonight, we just couldn’t really string it together. But we know we’ve got work to do.
“It starts with the fastball, just really being aggressive early to it, in the zone. Seen some foul balls and some swings and misses, some takes. So just got to get back to the foundational stuff and shorten up and get to the heaters.”
Monday’s run came in the first inning. Mike Tauchman drew a walk, advanced to second on a two-out single by Colson Montgomery and scored on a single by Curtis Mead to give the Sox a 1-0 lead.
The Orioles tied it in the third with a two-out RBI single by Jeremiah Jackson. Sox pitcher Sean Burke walked two in the inning. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits with four strikeouts and four walks in four innings after entering in the second following opener Tyler Gilbert.
“I felt solid,” Burke said. “Stuff-wise, I felt good. I thought overall I did a pretty good job of getting ahead of guys. Just trying to do a little too much with the two-strike pitches and I ended up being uncompetitive and kind of backed myself up to a count where I needed to make a pitch.
“So this week and going into the next one, putting an emphasis on continuing to try to get ahead of guys and be a little bit sharper with my two-strike pitches.”
Venable said Burke “was good” in the 89-pitch performance.
“There were still some walks in there,” Venable said. “Overall, we saw a lot of pitches in the zone early in the count, got ahead of guys. But then just wasn’t able to really put guys away. Good foundation for him to build off of, just got to continue to be in the zone.”
Monday’s outing was Burke’s second since returning from Triple-A Charlotte.
“In terms of the season being up and down, I feel comfortable again,” Burke said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot. The coaching staff has been supportive with all the stuff we’ve been working on together, and (catcher Kyle) Teel did a really good job tonight taking control of the game when we needed to make some pitches.
“So I feel pretty good with everything. It’s just about continuing to be repeatable.”
The Orioles staged a two-out rally against the Sox bullpen to take the lead in the sixth. Steven Wilson walked Coby Mayo and was replaced by Tyler Alexander. The left-hander surrendered a single to Samuel Basallo. Colton Cowser followed with a tie-breaking three-run home run.
The Sox, meanwhile, were limited to four hits while falling to 57-94.
Two of the hits came in the first. Chase Meidroth singled in the second, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Dominic Fletcher doubled in the fifth.
“Good first inning there,” Venable said. “Just couldn’t really string anything together (afterward). (Orioles starter Kyle) Bradish did a great job. He’s got really good stuff. He kind of had us in between, really beat us in a lot of different ways. And just couldn’t get anything going.”
Bradish allowed one run on four hits with nine strikeouts and four walks in five innings. Bradish and two relievers had a combined 15 strikeouts.
The Baltimore pitchers combined to retire the final 15 Sox batters.
“It’s part of baseball,” Meidroth said. “We’re better than that. A lot of good swings on the ball, a few balls right at people. We’re going to keep going and move on to tomorrow.”