Two mistakes cost Michael Soroka as White Sox drop series finale

Melissa Tamez/AP Photos

White Sox Starter Michael Soroka was aggressive in the zone on Sunday, but the veteran right-hander had two miscues that hurt him.

After Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez fouled a ball off his leg, he connected on Soroka’s changeup for his second home run of the season. Soroka has allowed a home run in eight of his nine starts.

The right-hander didn't think that was the right pitch in the at-bat.

“The last thing a hitter wants to see after they foul one off their knee is a fastball inside,” Soroka said. “Threw a changeup right over the plate, and his bat ran into it, so that has to change. Have to make better decisions in the moment.”

Two errors in the sixth inning — and a passed ball by catcher Korey Lee — prevented the Sox (12-29) from sweeping the Guardians (25-16) after Sunday’s 7-0 loss, ending their four-game winning streak and chance at a second sweep.

Soroka could have pitched more given his low pitch count (71).

“I’m not a pitch count guy,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “I’m about winning the baseball game. If it’s 70 pitches, it’s 70 pitches. If it’s 90, it’s 90. This is a team game and I know pitchers are on the mound and they wait five days to do it. I thought the matchup between Hill and [Josh] Naylor and us still having an opportunity to be in that ballgame was the best matchup.”

After some subpar starts to the season, where he put his bullpen in a bad spot with short starts, Soroka is starting to feel more like the pitcher who the Sox envisioned him being during spring training. His four-seam fastball sat at 93.3 mph, almost a full tick above his average for the year.

In addition to the velocity, Soroka commanded his pitches pretty well on the mound. He said he threw the way he wanted to today, going 5 ⅓ innings, allowing four earned runs, four hits and one walk. Other than those two pitches, it was a clean outing.

But his propensity for allowing homers bit him again when Guardians catcher David Fry connected on a two-run homer to break the game open for Cleveland in the fourth.

After Soroka walked third baseman Jose Ramirez, he was replaced by Hill despite having thrown just 71 pitches, 50 for strikes. Grifol wanted to give Naylor a different look with Hill, but the move backfired after the left-hander allowed two runs (unearned) and two walks.

“I thought with us having a couple of opportunities prior to that inning I thought we were still in the game," Grifol said. “And Naylor had some good swings off of him [Soroka]. If he wouldn’t have walked Ramirez, I probably would have left him in. But once we got Ramirez on, I’m going to just make Naylor’s at-bat a little bit more uncomfortable with Hill.”

Sunday’s four runs allowed were the most Soroka has allowed since April 20. He stuck to what has worked for him in his previous three starts: punching the strike zone. The competitor in Soroka wanted to stay on the mound, especially after watching the starters play a big role in the team’s winning ways as of late.

Lee said it was a "good stepping stone into his next start" for Soroka's next start.

“Today stings the most because you see your numbers, you see what you’re doing, and you want to give the team a chance to understand that I’m in there deep with low pitch counts and runs every time out,” Soroka said.