White Sox focused on improving process, results as rebuild rolls on

BALTIMORE -- The White Sox battled down to the final pitch during a 2-1 loss to the Orioles on Friday at Camden Yards, in a game where the first pitch was moved up 2 1/2 hours due to a forecast for inclement weather.

They had a chance to win, as they have on numerous occasions during the 2025 season, which is one of the many favorable changes in comparison to the 121-loss campaign of ‘24. But they still ended up on the short end of the score, falling to 18-39 overall and 6-24 on the road.

Even in the midst of this current rebuild, those losses aren’t taken lightly or deemed acceptable. The process of how the team reached the end becomes even more important.

“Those results matter and we look at that record in the face every day, and we know that we have to get better,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “It’s really about regardless of what happens the day before that, there’s moments in the game where we have to do better, where we have to change our approach, we have to make adjustments, we have to learn from our mistakes and continue to get better.

“Regardless of the result, that’s what’s going to be part of our process and continue to get better, so that’s what we’re doing. It’s a daily process. Wins and losses matter, but regardless of what you get that day, you got to go get better the next day too.”

Their process didn't result in success on a couple of occasions in this series opener, dropping the White Sox to 1-3 on the East Coast road trip.

Edgar Quero and Lenyn Sosa opened the sixth with singles off Baltimore starter Zach Eflin. But when Josh Rojas pulled back on a bunt attempt falling outside of the zone, Adley Rutschman threw down to second behind Quero and caught Quero leaning toward third. The White Sox did not score in the frame.

“I was just trying to get on third base, waiting for the bunt, but when I did my secondary, I slipped,” Quero said of the caught stealing. “And I couldn’t come back.”

“We talked about that,” Venable said. “Rutschman really likes to do that on bunt plays where the pitch is swung through or taken. We were ready for it. I think he just got caught a step too far and kind of slipped on his way back to the bag. In no man’s land there. Gotta do a better job of executing.”

Baltimore (20-36) scored its two in the bottom of the sixth off Sean Burke, who struck out six and walked one over six innings after entering in the second following opener Jared Shuster. After having the bases loaded with nobody out, the Orioles scored on a sacrifice fly and Ryan Mountcastle stole him on the back end of a double steal.

With two outs, Ryan O’Hearn broke for second, and when Quero’s throw went through, Mountcastle raced home with his first stolen base this year. He had a big enough lead and good enough jump to score fairly easily. Quero said the White Sox had their redirect on, so he threw to second base, and Venable backed that assertion.

“In that situation, it’s tough,” Venable said. “We had the redirect play on so he executed the play. It’s one of those with that lead and jump he had, you kind of knew something was up there. So just had to execute it.”

Despite those two situations, Andrew Benintendi’s double and a two-out walk drawn by Luis Robert Jr. put the tying and go-ahead run on base in the ninth against Félix Bautista after pinch-runner Vinny Capra scored on Benintendi’s connection. Joshua Palacios struck out swinging on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, leaving the White Sox satisfied with the effort but once again far from satisfied with the result.

“It was a good inning,” Quero said. “We were trying to tie the game, especially with Bautista on the mound. He's really good. He’s one of the best closers in the big leagues and he did a really good job.”

“Yeah, we definitely look back on games and note all the good things that happened, and certainly there was a lot to me to be in that game in the end,” Venable said. “A lot of good things. At the same time, there are things we have to execute better. We want to learn from those and make sure we get them right.”