Chicago White Sox starter Davis Martin has dominated at Rate Field this season.
But he had a rough Wednesday in front of a home crowd of 23,973, allowing five runs over four innings in a 5-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Martin surrendered six hits, struck out two and walked two in the loss. The White Sox have dropped the first two games of the series as their club-record stretch of 10 straight home series wins came to an end.
“There were some good spots,” Martin said. “Mechanically, felt really in sync in those first two innings. Felt like they were really crisp, clean and then kind of goes downhill from there. I think there were a lot of positive takeaways but overall just not good.
“Going into the (All-Star) break, enjoy some time with my family and time away from baseball and celebrate what this first half was and get ready to go for the second half.”
Despite the loss, the Sox (47-44) remain alone in first place in the American League Central standings. They are one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians (47-46), who lost 6-5 to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday. The Twins (46-47) are two games back.
Martin came into Wednesday with an 0.88 ERA in seven home starts this season.
He retired the first six batters he faced Wednesday, but the Red Sox had some hard-hit outs over those first two innings.
Martin walked two batters in the third inning, and both later scored. The inning began with a walk to Jarren Duran, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by Tsung-Che Cheng.
Martin walked Anthony Seigler. Ceddanne Rafaela followed with a double, scoring Cheng to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Seigler later scored on a wild pitch.
The Red Sox added two more runs in the fourth on RBI singles by Carlos Narváez and Cheng.
“I think it was a little bit of getting guys on base, trying to be quick,” Martin said. “It’s really easy when no one’s on base. You’re able to really kind of be slow, really feel stuff out. Versus when guys are on base you’re having to be a little faster, make sure your time to the plate is good to give (catcher Kyle) Teel a chance to throw some guys out. Just made some adjustments on the fly.
“Overall I think just mechanically compared to last week was much better. Still a lot of work to be done and I think the physical toll of this first half is kind of starting to show up. So basically having this All-Star break to really just recuperate, get the body back to where we need to be, I think it’s going to clean a lot of that stuff up by itself.”
White Sox manager Will Venable said fastball command was an issue on Wednesday for Martin.
“He’s got so many pitches and when he’s in the zone with his fastball and aggressive with it, it really opens up everything else for him,” Venable said. “It really just starts with the fastball command with him tonight.”
On the flip side, the White Sox struggled offensively timing up Boston starter Jake Bennett’s fastball. The lefty allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one in seven scoreless innings.
“(Bennett) hit his spots, pitched in, pitched up, pitched down,” said White Sox designated hitter Randal Grichuk, who was 0-for-4. “I was saying in the seventh or eighth that was the best-located pitched game by a starter against us all season.
“You’ve got to tip your cap some nights.”
The Sox were held to four hits for the second straight night. Luisangel Acuña had two of the four hits Wednesday. It’s the fourth time they’ve been shut out this season, and the first since April 11 at Kansas City.
“It’s going to happen, it’s baseball,” Grichuk said. “A lot of ups, a lot of downs. You’ve got to ride them out. When there are lows, you’ve just got to make some corrections. All it takes is one big hit and a big inning and it can turn.”
The White Sox will try to rebound after being outscored 13-1 in the first two games of the series.
“Another tough game, really on every side of the ball,” Venable said. “Just wasn’t at our best. Really credit to another really good lefty (after Payton Tolle on Tuesday) with a really good fastball that made it tough on us.
“We’ve seen a lot of foul balls on fastballs in the zone, just haven’t been able to get on top of them and hit them hard. We did hit a couple balls hard, but just overall a lot like yesterday.”
