BALTIMORE – There was a time earlier in White Sox starter Davis Martin's career where he would have been satisfied and maybe even pleased with the four runs he allowed over six innings during a 4-2 loss to the Orioles on Saturday afternoon at Camden Yards.
That feeling was not present for Martin, who is growing as an established part of the rotation, after his White Sox slipped to 18-40 overall and 1-4 on this East Coast road trip.
“Early on in my career, six [innings] and four [runs] is something I would be super pumped about. But I’m pissed about it right now. It’s just continuing to learn, continuing to get guys out, be in the zone,” Martin said. “It’s one of those games where you don’t feel like the box score kind of reflects on how you felt and how everything went.
“It’s baseball. We competed. I’m really happy with the conviction behind every pitch, even the home runs. It was just one of those days.”
Martin’s feelings about this specific outing really applies to Chicago’s mindset as a team. It’s an idea talked about ad nauseam during a month of May where the South Siders finished 11-17 overall, in that they’ve been better but not good enough. Two of the losses on this road trip have come by two runs, and the other two have come by one run each.
On Saturday, Baltimore closer Félix Bautista walked Mike Tauchman and Andrew Benintendi while protecting a two-run lead in the ninth. That sort of wildness late in close games usually leads to trouble for the team ahead, but sandwiched around those free passes were strikeouts of Miguel Vargas, Luis Robert Jr. and Austin Slater.
Robert finished 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, dropping his average to .182 and his OPS to .563.
“I feel like we’ve battled every team we played,” said White Sox third baseman Josh Rojas, who had two hits, a walk and a stolen base. “It’s just a matter of getting those timely hits in the right spots, which we haven’t done enough of.
“We are getting guys on base, we are putting on the pressure. We are getting pitch counts up out of the starters. We are getting to the bullpen early. It’s just a matter of finding those timely hits, which I think will come.”
Win or lose, a great deal of fight exists within Rojas and his teammates, as shown in the fourth inning Saturday.
Baltimore rookie Coby Mayo delivered a two-out, run-scoring single off Martin to raise the lead to 2-0, but was thrown out after making a big turn at first when Josh Palacios’ throw home was cut off by Rojas. Mayo tried to draw interference on second baseman Lenyn Sosa in the ensuing rundown, but Mayo’s shove into Sosa came on the grass and out of the baseline, with first baseman Miguel Vargas already having the baseball and applying the tag.
Sosa took umbrage with Mayo’s maneuver, questioning him about the play. Mayo shoved Sosa as he left the field, Rojas shoved Mayo, the benches and bullpens emptied and nothing more came of it.
“He tried to make a dirty play, and after that I just went to him and tried to ask him, 'Why did you do that,'” said Sosa through interpreter Billy Russo. “His reaction was to push me.”
“I wasn’t going to let him get a free one on Sosa. Just gave him one back and it’s all good,” Rojas said. “He came out of the baseline, trying to get runners interference. Sosa had some words to say to him and he gave Sosa a little shove. So I just gave him a friendly little shove.”
Beyond the theatrics, Saturday’s story was Martin. He allowed a leadoff home run to Jackson Holliday and a two-run shot from Jorge Mateo that just kept carrying in the fifth. Martin finished at 82 pitches, but having worked 20 innings combined over his past three starts, the White Sox were looking out for a stabilizing hurler who could make 32 or 33 starts every season.
“You can’t have him throw seven innings every day even though he does a great job to put himself in that position,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “We want to be mindful of the overall workload with him. He pitched well. You look up, though, and it’s six quality innings of work there from him. We just weren’t able to score enough to overcome it.”