Seventy-one losses.

The Chicago White Sox now have 71 losses at the All-Star break in mid-July, as the Pittsburgh Pirates have came in and swept them to end the first half. They did not enter the All-Star break in style, but you knew they wouldn’t.

It was a bullpen day for the team as Jared Shuster started. He didn’t last long, pulled in the top of the second inning with two outs and replaced by Michael Soroka.

Shortly after that, Soroka was pulled due to right shoulder soreness.

Luckily, the South Siders already had a run at this point, but it was in a lousy way. After loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first inning with Mitch Keller on the mound, Eloy Jiiménez drove in a run on a double play ball. Yay.

The Pirates got their first run in the top of the third inning with Chad Kuhl on the mound and two outs. ONeil Cruz hit a double to score Bryan Reynolds, who was previously hit by a pitch. Andrew Benintendi followed up with a home run in the bottom of the inning, hitting a solo shot and breaking the tie.

Benintendi for the lead! pic.twitter.com/npd5p5hq0K

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 14, 2024

Things quickly went downhill from there, which is usually what happens. The top of the fourth started with a bang for the Bucs as they had two on with Joey Bart up. Bart hit a three-run home run to go ahead 4-2, and that really was the nail in the coffin. The team didn’t seem to get much going the rest of the day and with a bullpen day, their chances dwindled. In the bottom of the fifth inning, suburban Chicago native Quinn Priester was on the mound for the Pirates and Gavin Sheets singled in a run with two outs to make it 4-3 — but that would be the closest they got.

Gavin Sheets continues to close the gap for the White Sox pic.twitter.com/vCFJPSGWun

— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) July 14, 2024

Kuhl had some solid innings of work so credit to him, but Jordan Leasure just can’t seem to find it out there. He got shelled yet again to start the seventh inning after runners were on first and third with Nick Gonzales at the plate. Instead of actually catching a ball in the outfield, Benintendi had a bad diving attempt that rolled past him, allowing both runners to score and Gonzales to advance to third. Rowdy Tellez drove that runner in with a sacrifice fly, and then a pair of doubles from Ke’Bryan Hayes and Joshua Palacios added on one more. What is the score even at now? Ah yes, 8-3. Leasure’s 6.32 ERA was bad, but I expected it to be worse by now. And clearly, he wasn’t getting help from his defense.

Not much happened from there on. Jiménez had an RBI single but his two GIDPs prior to that kind of drowned out the good. Reynolds had a solo shot to extend the Pirates lead to 9-4 off of John Brebbia, and that was that. Trust me, I witnessed it all in person, and it wasn’t that fun.

White Sox lose to the Pirates, 9-4

The worst first half in franchise history ends with the Sox losing seven of their last eight, concluded by a three-game home sweep rife with defensive misplays and spurned scoring opportunities.

Sox are 27-71.

— James Fegan (@JRFegan) July 14, 2024

Benintendi: “This is a much-needed break for everybody. Just get away and get your mind off it for a little bit. It’s not the first half we wanted, but we just gotta keep showing up, playing hard.”

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) July 14, 2024

Love the enthusiasm here, it really gets me pumped up for the second half of baseball!

The good thing is that the next week might actually be enjoyable for White Sox fans because we have an assortment of events coming up. The MLB draft starts tonight and you’ll get plenty of analysis on whoever our fifth pick ends up being, the 2024 Home Run Derby will take place, and we get to watch our lone All-Star, Garrett Crochet, represent the team and hopefully strike out some other stars on the mound.

Best of all, we cannot lose for almost a whole week. We will still have plenty of content and coverage coming up, so stay tuned for that, and we will see you back here for a road trip starting on Friday against the Kansas City Royals.

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