White Sox pound Pirates, who open 2nd half with 1 of most lopsided losses of the season

If there was optimism for the Pittsburgh Pirates to put a disappointing first half behind them, it was because they opened the second half against one of baseball’s worst teams: the Chicago White Sox.

That didn’t prevent the Pirates from continuing their misery against American League opponents.

They suffered one of their most lopsided losses of the season, 10-1 to the White Sox, on Friday night before a Yinzerpalooza fireworks night crowd of 28,899 at PNC Park.

Not only did the loss drop their record in interleague play to 8-23, it marked the second time in three games and fourth time this season the Pirates (39-59) allowed double-digit runs. They lost to the Minnesota Twins, 12-4, on July 12.

“We were flat,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “When you go down three-zip in the first … it’s tough.”

The nine-run deficit against the AL-worst White Sox (33-65) tied a 9-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 29 for the Pirates’ worst single-game run differential of the season.

It was the fourth time this season the White Sox have scored 10 runs. They had 11 hits, including three doubles and two home runs, drew seven walks and went 5 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

White Sox right-hander Jonathan Cannon was efficient in allowing one run on five hits without a walk in seven innings while throwing 58 of 86 pitches for strikes. Elizabeth Forward alum Dan Altavilla tossed a scoreless eighth, and lefty Tyler Alexander finished the game.

Pirates lefty Bailey Falter struggled from the start, allowing three runs in a 35-pitch first inning and giving up four runs on six hits and one walk in four innings. Over his past six starts, Falter has a 5.86 ERA with 15 strikeouts against 10 walks and has allowed nine home runs.

“Just missing locations, honestly,” Falter said. “Falling behind in counts and missing locations. Just haven’t been doing my job these past couple starts, so, hopefully, we can turn it around here soon.”

With two outs in the first, Falter surrendered a 391-foot solo home run to Edgar Quero on a 3-1 fastball as the White Sox took a 1-0 lead. Miguel Vargas drew a full-count walk and scored on Andrew Benintendi’s double to right-center. Luis Robert Jr. hit a bloop single to shallow center to drive in Benintendi for a 3-0 lead.

“Two quick outs and then fell behind Quero there, 3-1, and he got a hold of a fastball and hit it out,” Kelly said. “Then kind of spiraled on us. I think we just struggled getting ahead of guys tonight, and when you get behind, they can do some damage.”

Oneil Cruz singled and advanced to third on a hit-and-run single through the middle by Joey Bart to put runners on first and third with one out in the second inning. But former Pirate Michael A. Taylor robbed Spencer Horwitz of an RBI with a sliding catch in shallow left, which prevented Cruz from trying to score from third.

“That’s such a tough play,” Kelly said. “If he catches that ball running in, I don’t think there’s any way that you can really even tag. If it short hops, he’s on the base. It’s like a triangle play there that is such a fine line of, if he’s on the bag and he catches it running in, he probably doesn’t score. I know Cruz is fast but it’s still a really hard play to score on. Hindsight being 20/20, knowing that he was going to leave his feet, maybe you score there, but if that ball falls in we have to score on that, as well. I think that if he’s tagging there, and he short hops it, I don’t know if he’s able to score on that because he was coming in and it was not a far throw for the left fielder.”

Robert robbed Isiah Kiner-Falefa of an extra-base hit by stretching out for a diving catch in left-center in the third, and Taylor caught an Andrew McCutchen fly ball at the warning track in left to end the third.

Robert led off the fourth inning by drilling Falter’s first-pitch splitter 413 feet to left field for his 10th home run and a 4-0 lead. Colson Montgomery beat Horwitz’s late throw to Falter on a grounder to first, but the Pirates turned a 5-4-3 double play to end the frame.

Bryan Reynolds led off the bottom of the fourth by roping a double down the right-field line, tagged to third on a Nick Gonzales fly to the warning track in center and scored on Cruz’s single to right to cut it to 4-1.

Braxton Ashcraft relieved Falter and walked four of the first six batters he faced. The Pirates turned another 5-4-3 double play to avoid trouble in the fifth, but Lenyn Sosa singled in the sixth to load the bases and Montgomery’s chopper bounced off Horwitz’s outstretched glove and into right field for a two-run double and 6-1 lead.

Yohan Ramirez replaced Ashcraft, inheriting runners on second and third with no outs, but sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a pop fly to limit the damage.

Horwitz had a rough day. After Quero hit a leadoff double and Ramirez walked Vargas, Horwitz tried to backhand a Benintendi grounder only for it to roll under his glove for a single that scored Quero as the White Sox stretched their lead to 7-1.

Ramirez walked Robert to load the bases and struck out Sosa before exiting. Lefty Genesis Cabrera struck out Montgomery, but Taylor lined a bases-clearing double to left to give the White Sox a 10-1 lead.

On this night, the Pirates had no counterpunch.

“From an offensive standpoint, we need to find a way,” Kelly said. “The pitching has been so good for us, we need to find a way to pick them up on nights like tonight. I thought we had some good at-bats, hit some balls hard, not enough, but finding a way to have that energy and have the offense drive it.”