The night began poorly for the Chicago White Sox when Boston Red Sox left fielder Jarren Duran led off Thursday with a home run on the game’s second pitch.
It did not get any better from there for the White Sox, who set a single-single franchise record with their 14th consecutive loss while getting pummeled 14-2 by the Red Sox in front of 15,568 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“Not a good one today, obviously,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “We just got down early. They came out swinging it. These games happen. And it happened to us today.”
Starter Jake Woodford allowed seven runs on 10 hits in four innings for the White Sox, who have lost 18 of 19.
“It’s been a tough stretch, didn’t do my part today,” Woodford said. “It came down to a lack of execution. Definitely wish I could have done more to put the team in a situation to win.”
At 15-48, the Sox are off to the worst 63-game start in franchise history.
Thursday might have been a low point of the season for the White Sox, who were outhit 24-4. The Red Sox hit three home runs, two surrendered by Woodford (to Duran and Enmanuel Valdez) and one by reliever Jared Shuster (to Jamie Westbrook).
The 14 runs and 24 hits allowed were both season highs for the White Sox. It’s the second time in six games they allowed at least 20 hits after giving up 23 in a 12-5 loss against the Brewers on Friday in Milwaukee.
The 14-game skid is tied for the third longest in a season in the majors since 2015, pulling even with the Baltimore Orioles (May 18-31, 2021) and Los Angeles Angels (May 25-June 8, 2022). The Arizona Diamondbacks had a 17-game losing streak from June 2-20, 2021, and the Orioles had a 19-game slide from Aug. 3-24, 2021.
Photos: Chicago White Sox lose to Boston Red Sox 14-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field
The 2024 Sox previously shared the longest single-season losing streak for the franchise with the team that lost 13 straight from Aug. 9-26, 1924. The Sox lost 15 straight between the end of the 1967 season (five consecutive) and start of the 1968 season (10 in a row).
“The last week we’ve been playing a lot of tight games (leading four of the previous five in the seventh inning before losing) and just can’t quite pull out that small margin of victory,” shortstop Paul DeJong said. “I think we’ve got to do everything we can each day to win a game. I think that’s what the other teams are doing to us and we have to match that intensity, to be honest.”
After surrendering the homer in the first, Woodford gave up two more runs in the second on a single by Ceddanne Rafaela. Valdez hit a three-run homer in the fourth and Connor Wong drove in a run with a single, putting the White Sox in a 7-0 hole.
“It seemed like every time he left one over, made a mistake, they made us pay for it,” Grifol said. “As soon as the game got out of hand, we’re just trying to conserve as many innings as possible for tomorrow and get us in a good position to finish out the three games against (the Red Sox).”
The Red Sox added four more runs in sixth against reliever Tim Hill.
The only question became when the White Sox would collect their first hit against starter Tanner Houck. Third baseman Lenyn Sosa provided the answer with a single to center to begin the bottom of the sixth. Zach DeLoach drove in a run with a double later in the inning, his first career MLB hit and RBI.
“I know we’re going through a little rough patch right now as a team,” DeLoach said. “I’m here to help the team win, here to help them compete. Whatever I can do to do that, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Houck allowed two runs on three hits with nine strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.
“Against righties he’s real crossfire so it almost looks like he’s throwing behind you to the righties,” DeJong said. “He commanded both sides of the plate with two or three pitches. His numbers don’t lie (1.19 ERA). Throughout the year he’s been pitching really well. We hit some balls hard and got a run or two, which is fine, but overall I thought he pitched really well.”
Trailing by 12 runs, infielder Danny Mendick pitched a scoreless ninth for the White Sox.
“You never want to be in a situation where you are down by that much,” Mendick said. “Tough one for sure. The good thing we get to do is play Major League Baseball. And you’ve got to always put that in perspective. So I think just keep going.
“We’ve had some games where we’ve been up and things don’t go our way toward the end. But you’ve got to believe that it’s going to turn around.”
