The Chicago White Sox offense continued to impress in today’s 10-8 loss to the Seattle Mariners. Unfortunately, Gavin Floyd could not bring his best stuff and the team eventually ended their nine-game winning streak in extra innings.
The game was a battle from the start. The Mariners managed to homer in each of the first four innings and the Sox continued to answer with runs of their own. Just like yesterday, Gordon Beckham left his mark on this game with a home run and four RBIs. A.J. Pierzynski, Alex Rios, and Dayan Viciedo added with home runs of their own.
Back down to earth Paulie
Not known for his long ball, Ichiro hit two bombs off Floyd. The Mariners managed to knock Floyd out in the fifth inning after scoring five earned runs. Floyd has really been off his game as of late. In his last four games, he has allowed 26 runs total in just 19.2 innings. It can never be certain which side of him will show up when he takes the mound. He has the stuff to be a solid starter, but lacks anything even resembling consistency.
Another reason for today’s loss was the lack of contribution from our two heaviest hitters. Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko each went 0-5, leaving five runners on base between them. It is hard to get on Konerko’s case, though, since everyone knows he couldn’t keep up his ridiculous offensive pace. Today’s showing brought his BA closer to earth at .366.
No one should be too disheartened by today’s loss. Winning streaks all come to an eventually and luckily, this streak catapulted the Sox into first place. The Cleveland Indians lost their game today as well which means the Sox are still 1 1/2 games up. Even better than all this, however, is the prolonged struggling of the Detroit Tigers. With a win tonight, they will still be five games back. Picked by many to be the hands-down favorite of the American League Central, it is important that the Sox establish a lead early and never look back.
The White Sox will try to take home the series tomorrow with Chris Sale on the mound. Sale is scorching hot right now and is coming off his near record-breaking 15 K game.
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