The effort continues to be there, but the results remain woefully short for the White Sox.
The Pittsburgh Pirates blooped, bled and broken-batted the White Sox into submission in front of 21, 296 on Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Field. Gregory Polanco’s RBI groundout in the eighth inning was just enough to send the White Sox to their seventh straight loss as they fell, 3-2, to Pittsburgh. After losing four straight Interleague meetings with the Pirates, the White Sox dropped to a season-worst nine games below .500 despite rallying twice against All-Star-to-be Gerrit Cole.
Pittsburgh’s winning rally followed the same formula it used all night, one that made Wee Willie Keeler's “hit ‘em where they ain’t” look like a pretty solid theory.