BALTIMORE — Teams are going to look flat when they get outscored 18-3 in the first two games of a series, which is what the White Sox did against the superior Orioles on Monday and Tuesday. Monday’s performance prompted Hall of Famer and postgame TV co-host Frank Thomas to say some Sox players looked like they were “going through the motions.”
Manager Pedro Grifol characterized his answer to a general question about the team’s effort and focus of late as “80%,” suggesting Thomas wasn’t off the mark.
“We have some lapses, both on the physical end and the mental end,” Grifol said before the 9-3 loss Tuesday. “We just saw [rookie right fielder Oscar] Colas [on Monday] just lack of focus, throw a ball over the cutoff man [when] the play was over. Throw the ball to second base and keep the double play in order. Cost us a run.”
Grifol also cited “a lapse in running every once in a while” for the group and that was before Lenyn Sosa was doubled off first base to end Tuesday’s loss. Sosa, who had three hits including his fifth home run, tried bunting for a hit with two runners on, something Grifol advised him against after the game.
“At the end of the game he thought that [fly] ball was going to fall,” Grifol said.
Luis Robert Jr. didn’t sprint out of the box after his line drive in the fourth inning deflected off Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson’s glove into left field, allowing for a possible extra base that couldn’t be taken.
Robert, whose daily work ethic was lauded by Grifol before the game, stole second on the next pitch, rescuing the potentially lost 90 feet.
“All those things are addressed, we’re going to continue to address them,” Grifol said. “Eventually something will give one way or the other.”
“At some point, if you don’t do things the way we want to do things as a team and as an organization, you’re probably not going to fit in this culture and environment.”
Grifol said he takes notes of good things and bad.
“If your name is on that list every single day after we’ve spoken about it, at some point there’s a problem. We’re not there yet with anybody. Those guys are making adjustments for the most part.”
Sosa was talked to after Tuesday’s loss.
“These are the big leagues,” Grifol said. “These are not fundamentals that only happen in the big leagues. These are fundamentals that happen all the way up in the system. So this is not new to them.
“We’ll remind them that this is not the kind of baseball that will take us to where we want to go.”
Routed again
Jesse Scholtens allowed one run in 5„ innings and did not walk a batter before the Orioles broke a 1-all tie on Anthony Santander’s three-run double inside first base against Aaron Bummer with two outs in the seventh. Bummer allowed a single and walked two to load the bases. Bryan Shaw came in and got clobbered for five runs and six hits in the eighth.
Who’s in charge
While the hire or hires to replace Ken Williams and Rick Hahn await, communication with assistant general managers Chris Getz and assistant GM Jeremy Haber has been “really good,” Grifol said.
“Jeremy is here [in Baltimore]. Chris is back home. Spoke to Chris this morning, spoke to Jeremy today,” Grifol said.
“[Chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] made it clear Chris and Jeremy and myself would do things until he makes a decision. Hasn’t made a decision yet so we’re just continuing to be led by Chris and Jeremy until something happens.”
Getz is the leading candidate to be named general manager.
