Gavin Floyd threw seven innings of three hit baseball, giving up just two runs (one earned) but the White Sox still dropped their final game to the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon.
This was thanks to a combination both of excellent pitching on the part of the Rangers starter C.J. Wilson — one run on five hits over 6.1 innings pitched, along with five strikeouts — and also to missed opportunities on the part of the Sox hitters.
The Sox were down for most of the game, as the Rangers took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Gordon Beckham’s error allowed David Murphy to reach to lead off, and he advanced on a ground rule double hit by Yorvit Torrealba. With runners on first and third and no outs, Mitch Moreland hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Murphy, and Ian Kinsler followed with an RBI single scoring Torrealba.
The inning could have been much worse, but Floyd managed to settle down after allowing those two runs and turned in four more shutout innings to keep the Sox in the game. The Sox cut their deficit in half in the top of the 7th on a Paul Konerko RBI single, but couldn’t get another run to tie it despite opportunities in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Overall the team was just 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
The Sox will continue their road trip as they travel to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays. First pitch in that game will be at 6:07 P.M., CDT.