Glimmers come few and far between for the Chicago White Sox these days. They may not be as putrid as they were last year, but make no mistake about it, the White Sox are still pretty bad. But on Tuesday, they got a rare pitching gem from left-handed veteran Martin Perez, only to falter in the end against the Kansas City Royals in an eventual 5-4 loss for the South Siders.
Perez was brilliant on Tuesday; he pitched seven innings and was dominant against the Royals, shutting them out while allowing just one baserunner on a singular base hit. The 34-year-old has been very good since returning from injury, and that continued on Tuesday, and yet he wasn't able to grab the victory.
In so doing, Perez became the only pitcher in MLB's modern era (1901 to present) to throw at least seven shutout innings, allowing one hit or fewer, leave with his team leading by at least four runs and yet being unable to nab the victory. This speaks volumes about just how horrible the White Sox roster is and how their bullpen faltered and sold what was such a great performance from the veteran.
The culprits behind this unfortunate piece of history for Perez are relievers Jordan Leasure and Grant Taylor. Leasure came into the game in the eighth inning and proceeded to load the bases, and then Taylor, who relieved Leasure, ended up allowing a two-run single from Maikel Garcia.
The worst was yet to come for Taylor. He ended up allowing the Royals to load the bases yet again, and the White Sox simply could not find a way to stop the bleeding, with Tyler Alexander allowing the three runners Taylor allowed on base to cross the plate.
White Sox lose in spectacular fashion
Somehow, the White Sox invent new ways to lose. It's rather embarrassing that over the past 125 years of Major League Baseball, no other pitcher in history has experienced what Perez did. Perez was only at 85 pitches on the night anyway; there was certainly more room for him to pitch, although it's not too surprising that Chicago would be careful with him considering that he missed nearly four months of play due to an elbow injury.
Following this defeat, the White Sox now have a record of 48-84 on the year. They have the second-worst record in the league, although they would want to play spoiler to the Royals' playoff hopes, as they look to win the rubber match of their three-game set on Wednesday.
