If ever a team got a needed victory, it was the Chicago White Sox Sunday.
Against the host Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, the Sox were ripe for the taking. Losers of seven straight games and the first two games of a three-game series with the Cubs, the Sox managed to come away with a 5-3 victory. It was a victory that defied baseball logic!
The Cubs opened the three-game series by defeating the Sox, 11-2, Friday, and they won, 8-4, Saturday.
It was 2-0 in favor of the Cubs at the end of the first inning Sunday, not a good sign for the Sox. Then the fates stepped in.
Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito was wild and gave up seven walks in 52/3 innings, however, Giolito surrendered only two hits and the Cubs never landed the knockout punch. The Sox climbed back into the game and, with two runs in the top of the sixth inning, took a 4-3 lead. An insurance run in the seventh inning by the Sox closed out the scoring.
The Sox made a bit of negative history Saturday in their 8-4 defeat. It left the Sox with a 9-27 record, the worst 36-game season-opening stretch in Sox franchise including the previous low of 10-26 by the 1948 Sox.
The 1948 White Sox, managed by former Sox’ pitching great Ted Lyons, ended up 51-101. Luke Appling, a shining light for Sox teams in the 1930s and 1940s, was the only Sox starter to hit higher than .300. Appling, a former shortstop, played third base and hit .314. However, at age 41, Appling was not the player to build the team around.
Hebron native Howie Judson was part of a White Sox’ pitching staff in 1948 that achieved a rather dubious distinction with 14 pitchers with won-loss records and not one so much as made it to .500. Judson did about as well as anyone by finishing with a 4-5 record.
Four home games with the Texas Rangers over the weekend, followed by four games with the Baltimore Orioles at Guaranteed Rate Field, might prove interesting. The Rangers in the American League West, and Orioles in AL East, each occupies the basement in their respective divisions. The Sox have yet to win a series in Chicago. The season will be one-quarter over by the time the Orioles leave.