Freddy Falls

Pitching cost the Sox a win last night. The White Sox offense did what it needed to do early in last nights ballgame, scoring 5 runs in the first three innings to give Garcia a 5-2 lead. 3 runs came on a nice 2 out rally in the 3rd breaking a 2-2 tie. The Sox were only able to push 1 more across the remainder of the game though, that coming on a solo homer by AJ leading off the 8th.
Freddy did not have good stuff last night, with his fastball lacking movement and staying up in the zone too often. The O's took advantage of this in the 4th, hitting 2 solo homers and pushing one more across to tie the game back up at 5. Garcia was able to hold them to that until he was sent back out to start the 7th with his pitch count already above 100. After walking the leadoff batter he gave up an RBI double and was pulled. Cotts came on in relief and by the time the inning was over the O's had scored 4 runs, 2 of which were charged to Garcia.
You can't win'em all, but this is not the type of outing you want to see out of your #2 man. Without Buehrle, Garcia would be our front line starter. When given a 3 run lead to work with, you can't go out and give it right back in the very next inning. I'll let him slide on the 7th because Ozzie should never have sent him back out there with how he had been throwing all game. To give credit where credit is due, the O's are a very potent offensive ballclub and you can't expect to shut them out. That doesn't change the fact that this is a game the Sox should have won. Oh well, a new day, a new game.

Side notes: The Sox became the last team in MLB to reach double digits in the loss column with last nights defeat. Garcia became the first Sox starter to lose in back-to-back starts this season. The Sox had 3 guys tagged out trying to score yesterday (2 in rundowns, 1 at the plate). Elsewhere in MLB, Minnesota was shut out by Kenny Rogers (who extended his scoreless innings streak to around 30 innings, I assume) and the Rangers last night, remaining 6 games back of the Sox.

Sundays Matchup: Bedard 3-1 2.31 vs. Contreras 1-0 3.18