MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox began a seven-game trip by going without a hit until the seventh inning on April 19 in Philadelphia.
They wrapped it up Thursday with the Minnesota Twins hitting back-to-back home runs twice.
A lot happened to the Sox during the seven days — just no victories.
The dreadful trip came to an end with a 6-3 loss to the Twins in front of 20,363 at Target Field. The hosts hit five solo homers, sending the Sox to a season-high seventh straight defeat.
The Sox were outscored 24-7 while losing three games against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park and 25-11 while losing all four against the Twins.
They extended their worst start in franchise history, and at 3-22 they tied the worst 25-game start of the wild-card era (since 1995) with the 2022 Cincinnati Reds and 2003 Detroit Tigers. The 1993 Baltimore Orioles hold the modern-day record (since 1901) at 2-23.
Before the game, manager Pedro Grifol addressed his job security, saying: “I can only control the things I can control — that to me is coming to the ballpark, preparing this club to play a game and win a game.
“I can tell you I’ve had conversations, good conversations with (general manager) Chris (Getz), and I’ve had conversations with (Chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf), not about my job or job security or anything like that. There’s always good communication going on. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’m oblivious to our record and oblivious to things, because I’m not.
“At the same time, I’m not going to concern myself with that. I know the job this staff is doing. I know the players, the effort they are putting in. I know the care, the want, the will to have success. I know the work that’s going on. That’s the only thing we can control.”
White Sox shortstop Paul DeJong walks back to the dugout after striking out during the second inning against the Twins on Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Minneapolis. (Abbie Parr/AP)
Grifol said he is in communication with Getz “quite a bit, either in text or on the phone.”
“I’ve talked to him a couple of times this morning already,” Grifol said. “We are all in this thing together and we are all trying to get out of this and start moving in the direction we feel like we are going to be.
“There’s some things that have to get done and we have to continue to stay true to the process.”
The Sox find themselves a whopping 19-games under .500 less than one month into the season. They are 15 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central.
“Everybody wants it,” starter Michael Soroka said. “There’s no lack of effort that’s going into turning this thing around. Understand that we’re out there competing, but we’re also just going to go play baseball. There’s been a lot of close games in this stretch. It’s about playing complete baseball.
“It just kind of seems like right now, one thing or another that we just can’t quite piece together to play that complete game. I believe things will turn around. This group is definitely making the effort to do that.”
Soroka allowed two runs on four hits with one strikeout and two walks in five innings Thursday. The runs came via back-to-back homers from Edouard Julien and Ryan Jeffers in the sixth that tied the score at 2. The Twins had three straight hits in the inning against reliever Tanner Banks, the last an RBI single from Willi Castro to take a 3-2 lead.
Julien homered in the seventh against John Brebbia, while Carlos Santana and Jose Miranda hit back-to-back blasts against Steven Wilson in the eighth.
Twins first baseman Carlos Santana celebrates his solo home run in the eighth inning against the White Sox on April 25, 2024, in Minneapolis. The Twins won 6-3. (David Berding/Getty)
The Sox suffered their first winless trip of seven-plus games since July 12-18, 2019, at Oakland (0-3) and Kansas City (0-4).
“We all want to be good, we’re all working our butts off,” first baseman Andrew Vaughn said. “But it definitely hasn’t gone our way.”
Before the game, Grifol said he understands the pressure that comes with the position.
“I actually enjoy pressure,” Grifol said. “I really do. It just keeps me going. It motivates me. It gets me up in the morning. It keeps me creative. That’s just the way I’m wired. I enjoy it. I don’t like losing. I don’t think anybody in this clubhouse does. We know where we are at and we know the work we have to put in to get out of it.
“The rest of the stuff is not something we control.”
Mike Clevinger continues building up at Triple-A Charlotte
The right-hander is a step closer to joining the Sox after being transferred to Triple-A Charlotte. He started Thursday against Lehigh Valley.
The Sox signed Clevinger to a one-year deal that was announced April 4 and had been building up in Arizona.
“Just come out of there feeling good and tomorrow morning wake up feeling good, that’s what we’re looking for,” Grifol said of what they’ll want out of the Triple-A experience. “We know what he can do at this level, so we’re looking for health.”
