The White Sox good fortune is either floating in the Boston Harbor or locked up inside the Green Monster. Regardless of their unknown location, the South Siders didn’t bring any luck with them in their trip back home from Boston as they were knocked around by the Yankees on Friday night, 13-6.
Coming off a 7-1 road trip, Rick Hahn and the Sox suddenly became potential buyers at Friday’s trade deadline. No impact deal ever came about as the deadline went by quietly but White Sox manager Robin Ventura said after the game he doesn't believe the team's inactivity affected their play tonight.
"We just got beat in a game," Ventura said. "That's part of it. That has nothing to do with yesterday or at noon today."
Carlos Rodon was hit hard early and often in what was another rough start at home for the rookie. After giving up a RBI double to Carlos Beltran in the first, Alex Rodriguez continued his surprising 2015 campaign with an infield single that loaded the bases and scored a run in the second. Mark Teixeira followed up A-Rod with a monster grand slam to center, blowing the game open at 6-0.
“It was just a backdoor slider,” Rodon said of Teixeira’s home run pitch. “He hit it. He’s a good hitter.”
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Jose Abreu responded to Teixeria’s blast by recording one of his own, crushing a 99-mph fastball from Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi to right field for a two-run home run to make it 6-2. The shot was his 18th of the season and extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Over that stretch, he's hitting .381 with four home runs and 15 RBI.
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But the Yankees would come roaring back again to put up a crooked number in the fourth. Rodon struggled against New York’s lineup throwing wild pitches and allowing more Yankees to reach base. The lefty was chased in the middle of the inning, recording just 3-plus innings and giving up eight earned runs while striking out four and walking four. Reliever Matt Albers came in and gave up a two-run home run to Teixeria, the first batter he faced. The Yankees would end up scoring five in the fourth inning to give them a 11-2 lead.
Rodon’s last two home starts haven’t been pretty as the southpaw has given up 15 earned runs over seven innings while walking seven and striking out 10.
Ventura noticed Rodon missing his spots on Friday and chalked it up to a lesson for the young hurler as he goes through some rough patches, especially against a veteran lineup.
“They worked it,” Ventura said. “They got some pitches that they could handle and did a number on him. You have to be able to throw it in the strike zone. You can’t be erratic and when you’re up and you’re behind and throwing fastballs and they’re sitting on stuff, that happens.”
The Yankees continued to pad their lead against the Sox bullpen with RBI hits from Jacoby Ellsbury and Chase Headley in the fifth and sixth inning, respectively.
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Melky Cabrera kept his hot streak going with a RBI single in the fifth and J.B. Shuck added on a RBI triple in the seventh. Shuck scored shortly after on a wild pitch to bring the score to 13-5 but later left the game with a left hamstring strain. Ventura said after the game a stint on the DL could be in Shuck’s future.
Adam LaRoche recorded his first four-hit game since September 2012 and pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
The White Sox remain 3.5 games back in the wild card race after Friday’s loss and while the South Siders feel like they are in the thick of things in the playoff hunt, LaRoche is hoping the team isn’t scoreboard watching just yet.
“I would hope we’re not worried about keeping an eye on the team’s in front of us,” LaRoche said. “There’s just nothing you can do about that. We’ll go out and play the way we can and score some runs the way we did this road trip and our pitching can continue to do what they’re doing then you look up in September towards the end and see where you’re at. If it’s good enough, then it’s good enough. If it’s not, you’ll get ‘em next year.”