To say White Sox starting pitchers have struggled with walks lately is a bit of an understatement.
Lucas Giolito continued a troubling trend for the White Sox rotation on Thursday. Giolito walked five in 6 1/3 innings and took the 4-0 loss in Minnesota. That marked the fourth time in the last five that a White Sox starting pitcher walked at least five. Only James Shields (6 strikeouts, 5 walks on Wednesday) had more strikeouts than walks in his last turn out.
Obviously the combined 18 strikeouts and 23 walks in the last five starts is not the way to keep your team in games. On the season, White Sox starting pitchers have 39 strikeouts against 37 walks in 69 1/3 innings. Reynaldo Lopez has been able to survive seven walks in 13 innings by only allowing four hits so far. Each of the other four pitchers in the White Sox rotation has an ERA above 4.00.