Rare off night for White Sox as López labors

There was no need or time for White Sox excuses following a 8-1 defeat to the Twins on Wednesday night at Target Field -- not with 23 games left for a White Sox team at 22-15.

“It was just a bad night,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “Obviously, that’s not the type of baseball we play. That’s not the way we go about it.

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“But also letting them know, 'Let’s put this one behind us.' We’ve got little time off and we have to really continue to play as good of baseball as we have. We have to put it away. We don’t have time to regurgitate it very much -- understand what it was we didn’t do correctly and move on.”

Not dwelling on one of the worst White Sox efforts in this otherwise strong season doesn’t mean changes won’t come. Specifically, Reynaldo López's spot in the rotation might be in question.

López escaped unscathed from a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first inning, but he was not good enough on this night to complete two innings. With the Twins holding a 3-0 lead and Josh Donaldson on second with two outs, Renteria pulled the right-hander at 53 pitches in favor of Ross Detwiler.

Since López returned from the 10-day injured list, the White Sox have limited his pitch count as he continues to build up after dealing with right shoulder soreness. But knowing the postseason ramifications on the line with each pitch and the short distance to the finish line, the White Sox might have López build up out of the bullpen.

That fact could play out the next time through the rotation, with Carlos Rodón expected to come off the IL after his left shoulder soreness issue. Renteria would not commit directly to a change.

“We’ll probably have a discussion at some point and time to go over how we will continue to proceed and make a decision,” Renteria said. “Not going one way or the other. We’ll just have a conversation.”

In fairness to López, he should have been out of that second inning with only a homer to Jake Cave allowed. A fielding error by Nick Madrigal extended the inning and Donaldson came through with a two-run double.

The White Sox made four errors overall and finished with four hits, including a second-inning single from José Abreu, who fresh off his American League Player of the Month honors for August, extended his hitting streak to 16 games.

López feels good, both physically and mentally, and he said he was unsure why he was removed.

“I guess he has his reason, but I don't understand,” said López of Renteria, through interpreter Billy Russo. “I guess it was the best for our team, but I don't really understand why.

“It's just, for me, a matter of getting into my rhythm again. I spent a month away, and it's not easy. With all the things that have been happening this year, I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm battling to get into my rhythm and finally find my groove."

Wednesday’s loss dropped the White Sox to second place and one game back in the American League Central, as first-place Cleveland shut out the Royals in Kansas City, and the Twins moved within one-half game of Chicago. The White Sox are now on a two-game skid for the first time since the Cardinals swept them in a doubleheader on Aug. 15 at home and lost a series for the first time since that same weekend.

Simply put, this game was not one for the 2020 White Sox highlight reel, with Minnesota’s José Berríos striking out eight over six innings, including Eloy Jiménez in all three at-bats. But there is no time for them to dwell on what didn’t work at Target Field, though they will try to settle upon López's next step.

“We've got four days before, five days before,that slot comes back up,” Renteria said. “We'll try to figure out where we're at, talk about it, see what adjustments we can make and move from there.”