Five. Do I Hear Six?

This is how bad the White Sox have been during their five-game losing streak: Journeyman left-hander Tyler Anderson of the Pirates looked like Cy Young last night going into the seventh inning. When Anderson reverted to form courtesy of a three-run, pinch-hit homerun by Yasmani Grandal, it didn’t matter. Why? Because the Sox bullpen immediately turned a one-run lead into a 6-3 loss. If you can’t beat the Pirates, my friends… Anderson needed all of 81 pitches to get to two outs in the seventh; pitch 82, to Grandal, did him in. Sox starter Lucas Giolito, on the other hand, needed 111 pitches to get through six innings. Give up two runs to a team like the Astros, and you’ve done a good job. But do that against a team like the Pirates, my friends… Sox hitters managed a mere two hits off of Anderson through the first six innings, one of them a single by Giolito. Anderson retired the side on seven pitches in the fourth, then did it on five pitches in the fifth. When a pitcher with a career 4.68 ERA is making your hitters look that bad, my friends… After the game, Giolito said of the loss “maybe it’s a wake-up call we need.” Maybe?