Drubbing in KC drops White Sox another loss closer to 100
White Sox catcher Korey Lee strikes out during the sixth inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP)
AP Photos
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — So this is how a team loses 100 games in a season.
The White Sox are mapping out the blueprint.
Start a weak September schedule by getting swept at home by the Tigers. Then go to Kansas City, one of the three teams in baseball with a worse record than the one you’re carrying, and take a 12-1 clobbering from a 43-96 team on a hot, steamy Labor Day afternoon before 10,646 fans.
Granted, the Royals threw lefty Cole Ragans, the reigning American League Pitcher of the Month in August, at a Sox lineup missing Luis Robert for a third straight game because of a sore quad. Ragans has been tough on everyone of late, and against the Sox he did not allow a baserunner until Yoan Moncada dropped a soft liner into center field in the fifth inning for a single.
By that time, the Royals were ahead 5-0, having scored in every inning against right-hander Jesse Scholtens, a starting pitcher trying to prove he belongs in the 2024 rotation. Then they dropped seven runs on Declan Cronin, called up from Triple-A Charlotte hours earlier, and lefty David Paralta.
It was the latest remind of just how big a job new general manager Chris Getz is facing. Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, expressing belief in the Sox’ core just last week, is trying to convince fans another rebuild is necessary, not with the current core, a core that has the Sox holding a 53-85 record, reaching new depths below the .500 mark with each passing day.
There are only 24 left for a team that started the season with a 7-21 record, one supposedly built to win by executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn, both of whom have been fired.
“Somewhere along the way, it spiraled out of control,” chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said last week. “Some of it was the clubhouse, and I think we’ve corrected that. And some of it was bad luck. Some of it was just people not playing up to their potential. But it was a nightmare. This season was absolutely a nightmare.”
The sooner everyone can speak of it in the past tense, the better for all. With games against the Royals, Tigers, Twins, Nationals, Red Sox, Diamondbacks and Padres left, the Sox must go 10-14 down the stretch to avoid 100 losses.
The Royals out-hit the Sox 16-3. The Sox’ only run was an unearned marker in the ninth. They lost their fourth in a row and 16th in last 22 games.
Edward Olivares homered against Scholtens and Paralta, and Nelson Valazquez homered against Scholtens (1-7, 4.38 ERA), who gave up five runs on nine hits and one walk in 3 2⁄3 innings. Scholtens was coming off a one-run performance against the Orioles but has now failed to finish four innings twice in his last four starts.
Ragans (6-4, 3.00 ERA), who struck out seven, faced one batter over the minimum because he hit Oscar Colas with a pitch. Moncada was wiped out by Lenyn Sosa’s double play ground ball in the fifth.