BALTIMORE — Teams are going to look flat when they get outscored 18-3 in the first two games of a series, which is what the White Sox did against the superior Baltimore Orioles Monday and Tuesday. Monday’s performance prompted Hall of Famer and postgame TV co-host Frank Thomas to say some Sox looked like they were “going through the motions.”
Manager Pedro Grifol characterized his answer to a general question about the team’s effort and focus of late as “80%,” suggesting Thomas wasn’t off the mark.
“We have some lapses, both on the physical end and the mental end,” Grifol said before the Sox’ 9-3 loss against the Orioles Tuesday that dropped them to 52-81. “We just saw [rookie right fielder Oscar] Colas [Monday] just, lack of focus, throw a ball over the cutoff man [when] the play was over. Throw the ball to second base and keep the double play in order. Cost us a run.”
Grifol also cited “a lapse in running every once in a while” for the group and that was before Lenyn Sosa was doubled off first base to end Tuesday’s 9-3 loss. Luis Robert Jr. didn’t sprint out of the box after his line drive in the fourth inning deflected off Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson’s glove into short left field, allowing for a possible extra base that couldn’t be taken.
Robert, whose daily work ethic was lauded by Grifol before the game, did steal second on the next pitch, rescuing the potentially lost 90 feet.
”All those things are addressed, we’re going to continue to address them,” Grifol said. “Eventually something will give one way or the other.
“At some point, if you don’t do things the way we want to do things as a team and as an organization, you’re probably not going to fit in this culture and environment,” Grifol said. “At some point, if it’s consistent, to what we don’t want, something’s got to give.”
Grifol said every mistake is written down on a note pad.
“This happened. This is good. We address them all,” he said. “If your name is on that list every single day after we’ve spoken about it, at some point there’s a problem. We’re not there yet with anybody. Those guys are making adjustments for the most part. But to answer your question, about 80% of it. Twenty% of it is stuff we need to address.”
Routed again
Jesse Scholtens pitched 5 1⁄3 innings of one-run ball and Sosa hit his fifth homer and third in five games before the Orioles (83-49) broke a 1-all tie on Anthony Santander’s three-run double inside first base against Aaron Bummer with two out in the seventh. Bummer allowed a single and walked two to fill the bases.
Bryan Shaw got clobbered for five runs on six hits in the eighth.
Who’s in charge
While the hire or hires to replace Ken Williams and Rick Hahn await, communication with assistant general managers Chris Getz and assistant GM Jeremy Haber has been “really good,” Grifol said.
“Jeremy is here [in Baltimore]. Chris is back home. Spoke to Chris this morning, spoke to Jeremy today,” Grifol said.
“[Chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] made it clear Chris and Jeremy and myself would do things until he makes a decision. Hasn’t made a decision yet so we’re just continuing to be led by Chris and Jeremy until something happens.”
Getz is the leading candidate to be named general manager.
