Chicago White Sox surrender 18 hits in a 10-0 loss to the Texas Rangers, the 2nd shutout in their last 4 games
ARLINGTON, Texas — Chicago White Sox infielder/outfielder Luisangel Acuña needed just five pitches to retire the side in order during the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game against the Texas Rangers.
It’s a rough night when a position player pitching serves as one of the few standout moments for a team. That was the case Tuesday for the Sox in a 10-0 loss to the Rangers in front of 26,108 at Globe Life Field.
The Sox (53-47) surrendered a season-high 18 hits while stumbling back into a tie for first place in the American League Central with Cleveland (54-48). The Guardians pulled even in the division standings with a 5-2 victory against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.
Sox starter Noah Schultz allowed five runs on 11 hits with two strikeouts and no walks in 3 2/3 innings.
“Got ahead of guys, but just couldn’t put guys away,” Schultz said. “Leaving too much stuff over the heart of the plate with two strikes.
“Just make sure put-away pitches are getting out of the zone when they need to.”
Schultz surrendered a two-run home run to Brandon Nimmo with two outs in the first inning. The Rangers scored another two-out run in the third when former Sox infielder Jake Burger collected an RBI on a double.
“Just got to find a way to finish guys,” Sox manager Will Venable said of Schultz. “Good job getting ahead of guys, keeping the count leverage. We’ve just got to find a way to put guys away, whether that’s in the zone or finding a way to get some chase, just got to finish these at-bats.”
The Rangers had five hits while scoring twice in the fourth inning, knocking Schultz out of the game. The 11 hits are the most the rookie has allowed in his 12 major-league starts.
“It was a tough (start),” Venable said. “At the same time, he was in the zone. That’s something that we’ve really been working hard on, getting him in the zone. He’s done a nice job with that. He just didn’t miss any bats. Got to credit the Rangers big time today.
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“(Reliever Tyler) Schweitzer saw the same thing where we got them in some two-strike counts, couldn’t put them away, couldn’t get any chase, and everything that they hit, was a hit. Hit a lot of balls hard. There’s some soft contact in there, too, but they just did a good job of putting the balls in play.”
Wyatt Langford hit a two-run home run against Schweitzer in the fifth inning. The Rangers scored four runs in that inning, stretching their lead to 9-0. The previous high for hits allowed by the Sox this season was 16, which had occurred twice (most recently June 16 during a 12-2 loss to the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium).
The Sox, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going at the plate.
Rangers starter Kumar Rocker allowed one hit, struck out six and walked two in six scoreless innings. The only Sox hit against Rocker came in the fourth, a leadoff single to right field by Munetaka Murakami.
The Sox finished with just three hits — Murakami’s single in the fourth, a single by Acuña in the eighth and a double by Miguel Vargas in the ninth. It’s the second time in the last four games the Sox have been shut out, and the sixth time overall this season.
“He was able to get a lot of swing-and-miss, and a lot of chase, did a really good job,” Venable said of Rocker. “I thought to the lefties, the cutter was a really useful pitch. Saw him get (Sam) Antonacci with it a couple of times, and then the slider and sinker to the righties was really effective.
“So really good stuff from him. Just didn’t have an answer for anything he threw at us.”
