White Sox squander chances vs. A's

OAKLAND -- When the White Sox drove in a run and loaded the bases with two outs in the first inning on Friday night at the Coliseum, they seemed primed to hang a crooked number on an A's pitching staff that has struggled mightily this season and put the game out of reach before it even really began.

Instead, Chicago left the bases loaded, setting an unfortunate tone for the rest of the evening. One inning later, the bases were again full of White Sox, but A's right-hander Luis Medina buckled down and got out of the frame cleanly.

Those missed opportunities came back to haunt the White Sox as they dropped the opener to the A's, 7-4.

"The game was probably decided in the first couple innings, when we had bases loaded a couple times and we couldn't capitalize on that," manager Pedro Grifol said. "We were able to scratch a couple runs after, but obviously not enough."

Oakland put up a four-spot against Chicago starter Tanner Banks in the bottom of the second inning and never looked back.

"I made some good pitches, but they put some good swings on 'em," said Banks, who kept the A's off the board in his final two innings on the mound.

The White Sox drew five walks -- all against Medina -- and recorded 10 hits, which should have given them plenty of chances to take back their early lead. But they ended up leaving 11 on base and finishing the night 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

"[Medina] was erratic in the first couple innings. We got some baserunners, and his pitch count was really up," Grifol said. "And then once they scored those four runs, it seemed like he got in rhythm. He's got pretty good stuff, so if he gets in rhythm, he's tough to hit. The first couple innings, we did a good job of taking pitches and putting ourselves in good counts and getting a few walks."

That frustration has become all too common for a Chicago team that has continued to fall short of preseason expectations more than halfway through the campaign. The White Sox are 2-3 when they get 10 or more hits and five or more walks in 2023. In all three of those losses, Chicago stranded at least 11 runners.

"There's times that we should have scored and could have pushed more across, and there's times where maybe we took advantage," said Andrew Benintendi, who doubled and scored in the first inning. "Credit to them. They played a good game tonight, and they've got some arms. They've got some good arms."

Benintendi prevented the White Sox from leaving the bases loaded a third time with his second double in the eighth inning, a two-out drive off the wall in right-center that cut Chicago's deficit to 5-3. Then, with Benintendi on second and Elvis Andrus on third, Tim Anderson came to the plate and promptly went down swinging. It was the sixth four-strikeout game of Anderson's career.

After the A's scored a pair of runs against Jesse Scholtens in the bottom of the eighth, Luis Robert Jr. led off the ninth with his 24th home run of the season (and sixth in his last seven games) against Oakland's Trevor May. From there, May needed just six pitches to retire Chicago's final three batters and put the game to bed.

Had the White Sox come out on top in Friday's series opener, they would secured back-to-back winning months. Instead, Chicago went 13-13 in June -- a record that isn't flashy, but certainly remains an improvement over the team's disastrous 8-21 mark through April.

The series in Oakland should be a key opportunity for the White Sox, who sit at 36-48 after Friday's loss. Though they are in fourth place in the American League Central, they trail the Twins by just 5 1/2 games for the division lead.

A three-game set against the A's, whose 22-62 record is the worst in the Majors, should give the White Sox a chance to gain some ground in the AL Central.

Taking a page from Friday's loss, Chicago cannot allow opportunities like these to slip away.

"There'll be times we get the job done, and [times] we don't," Benintendi said. "But as long as your approach is right, and you have the right … idea of what you're trying to do, you know, it's baseball. It's not going to happen every time. All I can do is prepare, and whatever happens, happens."