CHICAGO -- Saturday was so hot and humid that the Rockies and White Sox preferred trotting over running. Brendan Rodgers’ solo shot in the second inning and Nolan Jones’ two-run homer in the fifth accounted for half the Rockies’ hits. And that was a big part of the problem.

The White Sox launched a season-high four homers -- two after right-hander Cal Quantrill ran out of gas in the fifth and sixth. The result was the Rockies, with the worst record in the National League, absorbing another disparaging defeat at the hands of the team with the worst MLB record, 11-3, at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Here's some takeaways regarding a cold team on a day that was anything but.

Quantrill lost a good pitching performance in the heat and humidity
Quantrill finished with eight strikeouts, one shy of his season high. He held the White Sox scoreless through four. Then …

“Obviously, it was a little more humid than normal,” Quantrill said. “I just ran out of juice a little bit, made a couple of bad pitches, and unfortunately, got burned on them.”

Lenyn Sosa socked a two-run shot with two out in the fifth. Luis Robert Jr. opened the sixth with a homer that tied the game at 3. With one out, Quantrill hit Andrew Vaughn with a splitter, and Paul DeJong followed with a two-run shot to chase Quantrill, who entered eighth in the Majors and second in the NL with a 3.2 bWAR.

Quantrill lost the grip on his splitter as the game continued
“I was sweating pretty good and threw a couple good ones early, but later on, [I] struggled getting a good grip on the ball,” Quantrill said. “I had to lean on some other pitches. I still threw them in a good spot. Today, they just did a good job on my bad pitches.”

Conventional wisdom is the Rockies (27-55) need to feast on teams like the White Sox (24-61). But Quantrill (6-6) said there is no sense applying pressure that way.

“Every team in baseball is good enough to win games,” he said. “We've won series against great teams and lost series against bad teams. It's kind of unique. That's what makes baseball baseball.”

“You’ve got to show up to the field the same guy every day. Sometimes, it goes your way. Sometimes, it doesn't.”

How about some plain, simple hits?
In Friday night's 5-3 loss, the Rockies had three hits, including two homers. On Saturday, Rodgers knocked his fifth homer of the year and Jones added his third -- both good markers for guys who have missed time with injury -- against White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon.

It’s not that the Rockies need fewer homers. But more hits could help them finish the series happily on Sunday afternoon,

“It’s nice to get the homers, but we’ve got to collect some hits,” manager Bud Black said. “I don’t want to play too much into the fact we didn’t see their starter and haven’t seen a lot of their pitchers. That’s part of baseball. We’ve got to do a better job. When we get our pitch to hit, square it up and do some damage with it.”

If you’re not winning, keep learning
Rather than trying to beat the midday heat, coaches were on the field for infield practice, with Black watching the players and coaches. Black believes a number of players struggling currently can be part of a contending club.

During the game, infielder Aaron Schunk made his Major League debut with a solid fly ball to right as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. He is likely to receive his first start on Sunday afternoon.

After some solid work at Triple-A Albuquerque, righty reliever and 2016 first-round Draft pick Riley Pint replaced an ineffective Jalen Beeks in the eighth for a season debut that didn’t go well.

Pint yielded a three-run homer to his first batter, Korey Lee, and gave up another run as he walked two, threw two wild pitches and yielded two hits, but finished with his first Major League strikeout.

Pint pitched one-third of an inning last season and gave up one run on one hit and three walks. This year, the Rockies plan to truly see what he can offer.

“He had a couple of good sliders, then the home run slider looked a little bit up -- but that’s a guy [Lee] with a little bit of power,” Black said. “With Riley, it’s a situation where he’ll get an opportunity, and hopefully, he can cash in [with] some success.”