No White Sox comeback after Lynn struggles

CHICAGO -- Even the best pitchers run into an occasional bad night.

And that sentiment pretty much sums up Lance Lynn’s performance during a 7-0 White Sox loss to the Cubs (57-74) on Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Field. Lynn (10-4), who ranked a close second to the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole among American League pitchers in a recent MLB.com Cy Young Award poll, allowed seven runs on seven hits and three home runs in five innings.

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Lynn had allowed seven earned runs and three home runs over his previous four August starts, covering 22 innings pitched.

“When you give up three home runs and a grand slam, it's not going to be a good night,” Lynn said. “Over the course of the year, I've been able to make pitches and get out of those situations. Tonight wasn't one of those nights.

“I'll learn from it and get better. Every once in a while, you need a slap in the face to get yourself going. Tonight was definitely one of those."

The game-changing moment came in the fourth, with the Cubs already ahead 2-0, courtesy of one of Patrick Wisdom’s two home runs and four long balls over two games. With two outs, Lynn walked No. 9 hitter Sergio Alcántara to load the bases but then jumped ahead at 0-2 on Rafael Ortega. The leadoff hitter launched the next 94.7 mph four-seamer to right for a grand slam.

“With the grand slam, I kind of threw it where I wanted to,” Lynn said. “He put a good swing on it and was able to get it out. And then the two pitches to Wisdom, he's in a good spot, and he was able to put good swings on them. So that's part of it.”

“First time he's really had that kind of game,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “It happens. We got beat. They pitched better, they hit better, they managed better. So it wasn't much of a contest.”

The seven runs allowed by Lynn stood as just the third time in 24 starts he has given up more than three runs, while also setting a season-high. He suffered his first loss since June 19 and his first setback at home since June 14.

Ortega’s blast was the third grand slam yielded in Lynn’s career and the first since April 2, 2018, at Pittsburgh with Minnesota, with Colin Moran doing the damage. Lynn fell to 0-5 with a 6.86 ERA (47 earned runs in 61 2/3 innings) over his last 13 starts against the Cubs.

“When you give up seven runs, it doesn't matter who you're facing,” Lynn said. “And when you're facing a Major League team, you don't put anybody -- you don't think of them any differently. It's just a [bad] night on my part.”

That 6-0 lead for the Cubs following their five-run fourth didn’t seem insurmountable, although Alec Mills (6-6) was on his game. Not for a White Sox team having scored in double-digits in each of the last two games. Not for a White Sox team who spotted the Cubs a 6-0 lead in the first inning on Friday and raced back for a 17-13 victory.

But there was no Saturday comeback for the White Sox (75-56), who fell to 4-1 on the season against the Cubs. They maintained their 10-game lead over the Indians in the American League Central and watched their magic number drop to 24 with Cleveland’s loss.

Despite Lynn’s ERA jumping from 2.20 to 2.59, he’s likely to bounce back quickly from the rough night. Lynn has learned to put these rare bad starts behind him quickly.

“Well, it's not good to suck. So you learn to don't let it happen again, because then it makes for a miserable couple of weeks,” said Lynn, whose seven strikeouts raised his season total to 152 over 135 2/3 innings. “So get myself ready to go for the next one and make sure I don't suck again. That's the plan."