With the franchise off to its worst start in its 124-year history, the Chicago White Sox held a team meeting before Monday night’s series opener with the visiting Kansas City Royals.
And nothing changed.
The White Sox managed just four singles — two from Andrew Benintendi — in a 2-0 loss to the Royals, falling to 2-14 for the season and 1-8 at home.
It was the sixth time in 16 games that Chicago was blanked. The White Sox, who have scored two runs or more only seven times this season, have just 34 runs, the fewest in the majors by 14 runs. They have pushed across just five runs in five games against Kansas City, all of which have ended in losses.
It doesn’t figure to get any easier. On Tuesday, Kansas City will start ace right-hander Brady Singer (2-0, 0.98 ERA), who has allowed just 10 hits and two runs over 18 1/3 innings this season while striking out 18.
Singer picked up a no-decision in an April 5 start against Chicago in Kansas City but still was dominant in his team’s 2-1 win, allowing one run on two hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings while striking out four.
“We’ve got to do a better job of hitting the fastball, and those guys are working on it,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “They’re not just showing up here at 6:30 for a 6:40 game. They’re working on it. At some point they have to apply it and execute on the field.
“I just think a lot of those guys are pressing, but it’s not something we can talk about every single day and use (as a) crutch. We’ve got to make adjustments, just plain and simple.”
Part of the problem is Chicago has been without the meat of its batting order with center fielder Luis Robert Jr. (right hip flexor strain), third baseman Yoan Moncada (left adductor strain) and outfielder Eloy Jimenez (left adductor strain) all sidelined with injuries. Jimenez was activated off the injury list Monday and struck out pinch-hitting to end the game. He is expected to be in the starting lineup on Tuesday.
“The one thing I do know is that this won’t stay like this because it just can’t,” Grifol said. “The game is the game, and you’re going to have your ups and downs.”
For the second straight contest, the White Sox will start a pitcher making his major league debut.
Jonathan Cannon, a 6-foot-6 right-hander who was a third-round pick out of Georgia in the 2022 MLB Draft, will get the start. He follows right-hander Nick Nastrini, who was perfect for the first 3 2/3 innings on Monday, including a pair of strikeouts of Bobby Witt Jr., in his major league debut.
Nastrini threw five innings, allowing two runs on three hits, including a long solo homer to Vinnie Pasquantino in the fourth inning that proved to the be game-winner.
“The first couple of innings it was an out-of-body experience,” Nastrini, a UCLA product, said. “It was everything I hoped it would be. It was fun.”
Kansas City starter Seth Lugo (3-0) continued his hot start to the season by spreading four singles over seven innings and lowering his ERA to 1.05.
“Really impressive,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “Location right out of the gate. He forces contact. I thought he got better as the game went on, too.”
Pasquantino also lined a double to the right-field fence to go with his 421-foot blast.
“The name of the game was the pitching, right, but to get us on the board there in the fourth was a little sigh of relief,” Quatraro said of Pasquantino’s third home run of the season.
