BALTIMORE — May began with the Chicago White Sox winning three of their first four games.
The month ended Saturday with the Sox losing five of six after falling 4-2 to the Baltimore Orioles in front of 23,470 at Camden Yards. All five losses were by one or two runs.
Jackson Holliday (solo) and Jorge Mateo (two-run) homered for the Orioles.
The game featured a brief bench-clearing incident in the fourth when Coby Mayo lunged to make contact with Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa during a rundown. Sosa then looked for an explanation and got shoved.
“I think he tried to make a dirty play and after that I just went to him and tried to ask him, ‘Why did you do that?’” Sosa said through an interpreter. “His reaction was to push me.”
Both benches and bullpens emptied before order was restored.
“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” Sosa said of the support from his teammates. “Here, we know that each one of us has everybody else’s back. That’s what it is. If we’re going to fight, we’re going to fight together.”
Third baseman Josh Rojas added: “(Mayo) came out of the baseline, trying to get runner’s interference. Sosa had some words to say to him and he gave Sosa a little shove. So I just gave (Mayo) a friendly little shove.
“I wasn’t going to let him get a free one on Sosa. Just gave him one back and it’s all good.”
For the second straight game, the Sox came up short in a rally against Orioles closer Félix Bautista. Trailing 4-2, they had two on with one out in the ninth. Bautista struck out Luis Robert Jr. and Austin Slater to end the game.
Mike Tauchman had three hits, an RBI and a run in the loss.
Throughout the month, in which the Sox went 11-17, manager Will Venable noticed areas where “we’ve seen some really good things.”
“From the pitching side, we’ve seen some of our starters do a really nice job,” Venable said before the game. “Overall there are still a lot of things we are grinding on and working on, knowing that we have to do a better job of being in the zone, throwing strikes, continuing to get outs any way we can.
“Defensively, baserunning-wise, offensively, all good things but still some key areas where we really need to do a better job.”
Here’s a look back at May and a look ahead to June.
1. Miguel Vargas took his turnaround to another level.
Vargas worked the count full in the first inning May 16 against the Chicago Cubs. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, he hit a sweeper over the left-field wall for a two-run home run. Vargas homered again in his next at-bat, part of a four-hit day for the third baseman.
Adjustments at the plate, including having his hand slightly higher, began paying off in late April for Vargas — and it led to an explosive May. Entering Saturday, Vargas had a .274/.340/.589 slash line in May with nine doubles, seven home runs and 17 RBIs in 25 games.
“This is the player we envisioned,” general manager Chris Getz said recently. “Another example of taking a step back, making some adjustments, intervening and finding something that made him more comfortable and allowed him to catch up to velocity, be more consistent at the plate.
“He deserves a ton of credit. You don’t see a lot of players make adjustments in season and it works that quickly.”
Vargas earned American League Player of the Week honors for May 12-18.
May also saw consistency at the top of the lineup from Chase Meidroth. The shortstop had a 12-game hitting streak from May 11-25.
“His overall game, what he’s accomplished so far early on in his career, has been really impressive,” Getz said. “And I don’t see him stopping.”
2. Andrew Vaughn has a chance to ‘press pause’ after being optioned to Charlotte.
Vargas has spent more time at first base since the Sox optioned Vaughn and Tim Elko to Triple-A Charlotte when outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Tauchman returned from the injured list May 23.
Vaughn, the No. 3 pick in the 2019 draft, had a .189 average with five home runs and 19 RBIs in 48 games when the Sox made the move.
“For him, it was about having an opportunity to press pause on the pressure of performing here and give him a chance to regain himself without any major swing adjustments or anything,” Venable said Saturday. “Just take a little bit of a break and go down there and find yourself again.
“He’s on track to do that and kind of take it day by day and continue to work through the things he needs to do better.”
The Sox also made a change to their catching group Tuesday, trading Matt Thaiss to the Tampa Bay Rays as Korey Lee returned from the IL to join Edgar Quero.
The Sox added Adrian Houser to their rotation May 20, and the right-hander hasn’t allowed a run in 12 innings over his first two outings. He starts Sunday’s series finale.
3. The June schedule is stacked with potential playoff contenders.
After Sunday, the Sox must navigate a June schedule filled with teams above or near .500.
There are home series against the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants. The Sox visit the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays.
Of that group, the Diamondbacks had the worst record entering Saturday — three games under .500 (27-30).
The Sox enter June coming off another close loss. But they also showed some fight, as evident from the fourth-inning incident and the near comeback.
“I feel like we’ve battled every team we played,” Rojas said. “It’s just a matter of finding those timely hits, which I think will come.”
