Zavala delivers lone run as Rangers hit Cease hard

ARLINGTON -- Seby Zavala delivered the eighth-inning home run off Rangers starter Dane Dunning to end a 26-inning scoreless streak for the White Sox offense in an 11-1 loss at Globe Life Field on Wednesday night.

So, it seemed only right to let Zavala talk about what’s gone wrong with the offense, or maybe what’s gone wrong with the team overall, after the White Sox plummeted to 43-66 and suffered their 17th loss in 23 games.

And what was Zavala’s answer? A lack of fun, as he adeptly explained.

“Things aren’t going great for us right now, so we are going to have to figure out how to get out of it and have some fun,” Zavala said. “If you don’t have fun, it’s going to be miserable for a few months.

“I mean we’ve had fun at points [this season]. But we just have to do it more consistently, because coming to the field when you are losing every day, it really sucks. We have to figure it out.”

Losing three in a row and scoring once over that entire stretch makes it tough to have a good time on the baseball diamond. It’s been such a tough year that the White Sox traded away six pitchers and infielder Jake Burger prior to the 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline on Tuesday in their latest reshape or rebuild, or however the moves end up playing out.

That Deadline is in the past. Even if the clubhouse has a different vibe or a different feel with Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman and Keynan Middleton gone along with Burger, it’s no excuse for Wednesday’s on-field performance if those factors somehow entered anyone’s mind.

“This is the Major Leagues, we’re professionals here,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “That’s out of our control and it’s not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to prepare for a baseball game and execute, and that’s about it.

“If you’re not executing because you’re thinking about a Trade Deadline or what happened or what didn’t happen, shame on you. That’s not what this is about. That’s not your responsibility. Control what you can control. And that’s it. I’m not saying anybody is doing that. If that’s the case, which I don’t believe so, that’s not what this is about.”

Dylan Cease (4-5) was front and center in Tuesday's trade rumors, although it seemed clear from the outset that general manager Rick Hahn was focused on contracts nearing their expiration, with the exception of the Burger deal (Cease remains under team control through 2025). Cease felt focused on Wednesday, so allowing seven runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings can be chalked up to a truly bad night.

His fastball command was off; he generated just two swings and misses on the pitch, per Statcast. Cease’s one strikeout, against three walks, matched a career low.

“Yeah, it was a rough one,” said Cease, who threw 34 pitches in the first inning and 45 in the second. “Not enough strikes, not enough execution and they did a good job of hitting it.”

“Stuff seemed to be OK. But it’s hard to tell when you don’t have command,” said Grifol, who was ejected between the second and third innings for arguing balls and strikes. “You have to command your fastball. It’s tough to pitch off your offspeed pitches. Every time he’s had really good outings, he’s commanded his fastball.”

As bad as Cease was, the offense was worse.

Between the last out of the first inning and Zavala’s homer with two outs in the eighth, Dunning retired 21 straight hitters against his old team. He set down 23 of the 27 batters he faced, with a career-high 11 strikeouts. In the top of the sixth, Dunning dispatched the top of Chicago's order on five pitches.

White Sox hitters have struck out 28 times and walked once in these two consecutive losses to the American League West leaders.

They have seven hits in the two games: six singles and Zavala’s homer.

“We’re hitting too many ground balls,” Grifol said. “They’re pitching us down in the zone, and we’re hitting too many ground balls. We chased quite a bit today, too. We’re not putting good swings on hittable pitches, and we’re chasing pitches that are not in the strike zone.”