Brenton Doyle drifted to the warning track in pursuit of Lenyn Sosa’s flyball to right-center in the fifth inning of a June 29 game at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Colorado Rockies center fielder ran out of room and ran into the wall as the ball just reached the seats for a two-run home run.
It was the first of four Chicago White Sox home runs that day.
Luis Robert Jr. jumped on a first-pitch curveball in the sixth inning for a mammoth 470-foot blast. Paul DeJong hit a two-run home run later in the inning, and Korey Lee capped the power display with a three-run shot in the eighth.
The Sox clobbered the Rockies 11-3 to secure a series victory after winning the previous day’s opener 5-3.
They haven’t won a series since.
The Sox lost their 20th consecutive series earlier this week, getting swept by the Cleveland Guardians Monday-Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
It has been a year filled with skids as the team nears the modern-day record for most losses in a season held by the 1962 New York Mets (120). The Sox entered Friday’s series opener against the Oakland Athletics with 114 losses and 15 games remaining.
Here is a closer look at the series drought.
1. The Sox have been swept in 11 of the 20 series.
The Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning on July 14 against the Pittsburgh Pirates with singles from Tommy Pham and Andrew Benintendi and a Robert walk.
They scored only once, and that came when Eloy Jiménez grounded into a double play. The Sox went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base in a 9-4 loss.
“Let them off the hook a couple of times,” manager Pedro Grifol said afterward.
It was a series filled with missed opportunities. They went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position while falling 4-1 in the July 12 opener and 1-for-8 in those situations the next day, losing 6-2.
That began a stretch of six consecutive series in which the Sox were swept. That streak came to an end when they won 5-1 on Aug. 6 at Oakland, which also marked the end of the team’s American League record-tying 21-game skid.
The Sox have been swept 23 times this season, 11 of which have come during the streak of 20 consecutive series defeats.
2. It has come down to a rubber game six times.
A July 5-7 trip to Miami began well for the Sox as starter Drew Thorpe allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings during a 3-2 victory against the Marlins.
The Sox were ahead by a run again the next evening, but the game flipped on a Dane Myers two-run home run in the seventh against reliever Michael Soroka. The Marlins held on for a 4-3 win, setting up Sunday’s rubber match.
Former teammate Jake Burger delivered the big blow in the series finale with a walk-off, three-run home run to give the Marlins a 7-4 victory. The Sox allowed four runs in the ninth to squander the chance for their first road series win since early May.
“We’ve lost our share of those, and they all hurt, but when you’ve lost a few too many, they start to really hurt,” Grifol said after the July 7 loss.
The Sox have won the first or second game of a three-game series six times during the consecutive series losing streak. They haven’t been able to close one out.
3. The Sox have won two home games during that stretch.
The Sox have one home victory since the All-Star break, a 12-2 drubbing of the New York Yankees on Aug. 12.
Their only other home win during the stretch of 20 consecutive series losses came in Game 1 of a July 10 doubleheader, a 3-1 victory against the Minnesota Twins. That’s two wins in their last 30 home contests.
The Sox entered Friday with 15 straight home losses, a franchise record. It was the longest home losing streak in the majors since the 2002 Mets also dropped 15 in a row.
“It’s been a while since we put one together at home,” interim manager Grady Sizemore said this week. “You try to block all that stuff out, it’s just about today. What can we do to get better, improve from yesterday, pull from the positives and learn from the negative parts and just get better.”
Sox recall Jake Eder from Triple A, place Matt Foster on IL
The Sox placed reliever Matt Foster on the 15-day injured list with a lower-back disk herniation. The move is retroactive to Thursday.
In the corresponding move, the Sox recalled pitcher Jake Eder from Triple-A Charlotte. He is 3-9 with a 6.61 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 24 starts between Double-A Birmingham and Charlotte. The Sox appointed Eder the 27th player for the July 10 doubleheader, but he did not pitch.
The Sox plan to use Eder out of the bullpen.
