The White Sox finished up the pre-All-Star Game portion of their season with a 2-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday at U.S. Cellular Field. The shutout, courtesy of Minooka, Ill. native Mike Foltynewicz, was emblematic of the team’s on-again, off-again offensive struggles, while James Shields’ pitching performance was indicative of his recent success.
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The Sox go into the break with a 45-43 record that has them in fourth place in the AL Central, seven games behind Cleveland, and in fifth place for the second AL wild card spot, 4 1/2 games behind Toronto.
Not terrible, not very good. Such is the story of the 2016 White Sox.
Describe this game in three words: You missed brunch.
Deflector Shields: Can James Shields win Comeback Player of the Year if he’s coming back in the same season?
James Shields with White Sox
First 3 GS: 21.81 ERA, 8.2 IP, 24 H, 9 BB, 5 K, 5 HR
Last 4 GS: 2.84 ERA, 25.1 IP, 24 H, 9 BB, 13 K, 4 HR— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) July 10, 2016
Shields has regained his reputation as an innings-eater over those last four starts. On Sunday, he threw 7 2/3 innings and gave up six hits, with both runs coming on solo homers. He struck out and walked two to whittle his ERA down to…7.68. That’s actually a pretty good carving, considering it was 31.50 after his first start with the Sox and 21.81 after his third. The Sox are 3-4 in his starts, but in their wins, they averaged nine runs a game.
Shields retired the first three batters on an economical seven pitches, but with one out in the second he hung a curveball to Jeff Francoeur for a solo homer.
In the top of the third, he had two outs when he fed Jace Peterson an 88 mph cut fastball down the pipe. Peterson rocketed it to right field to make it 2-0.
One foot in the box, one foot out the door: Foltynewicz struck out 10 hitters in seven innings, and neither he nor his two relievers, Chris Withrow and Jim Johnson, walked a batter. All six White Sox hits were singles, and Avisail Garcia also reached on a strike three wild pitch.
The Sox had two runners on just once, in the third inning after J.B. Shuck and Tim Anderson singled with two outs. But Adam Eaton flew out to right to end what would be their only scoring threat.
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Anderson had two hits to give him a .304 average and a .798 OPS going into the break. He also notched his first caught stealing on an Eaton strikeout in the first inning. It was the first of three White Sox double plays.
Jose Abreu picked up three hits.
Applaud A.J.: Braves catcher, and White Sox hero, A.J. Pierzynski soaked in the applause in what could be (or should be) his last game at U.S. Cellular Field. He notched the 400th double of his career in the fifth inning.
Q-rating: Three White Sox are traveling to the All-Star Game in San Diego. We knew Chris Sale made his fifth straight team and that third baseman Todd Frazier is defending his home run derby title Monday night. But the Sox surprised their fans by bringing out Jose Quintana for an All-Star jersey presentation before Sunday’s game. Most figured Quintana was in line to be injury replacement and All-Star manager Ned Yost selected Quintana, a first-time All-Star, to replace Cleveland starter Danny Salazar, who is suffering from mild elbow discomfort.
Quintana is definitely deserving. He had the fourth-best FIP (fielding independent pitching) in the American League at 3.48 and the third-best WAR at 2.9 and ERA at 3.21. He went from May 8 to July 3 without earning a win, and while pitcher wins have largely lost their value in even casual conversations, he had his share of clunkers during that stretch.
On deck: Frazier will compete in the home run derby Monday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN. Chris Berman will be calling it, so prepare yourself with this list of San Diego neighborhoods and suburbs.
Sale and Quintana will pitch in the All-Star game Tuesday, which begins at 7 p.m. CT on Fox. Sale is a candidate to start the game.