Amid early slide, White Sox confident they'll be 'just fine'

DETROIT -- The White Sox are far from where they want to be.

That comment came from third baseman Miguel Vargas following a 7-4 loss to the Tigers during Detroit’s home opener at Comerica Park on Friday afternoon, marking a third straight setback for the South Siders, who fell to 2-5 overall. Vargas was talking about the team’s offense, which has been uneven to date, but it could be representative of the whole team in the midst of this latest rebuild.

Let’s focus on the present and start with the offense, limited to one run on four hits over the first eight innings before rallying for three in the ninth. They have outputs of eight runs on Opening Day and nine runs on Monday against the Twins, but they have scored 10 runs in their other five contests combined.

“It’s still early for this season. Obviously, we are facing a really good pitcher. We have a couple of good games offensively,” Vargas said. “We just need to be consistent. We are going to be in a good spot. We are taking really good at-bats. Our approach has been there.”

“We weren't able to get anything going really off of Flaherty,” said White Sox manager Will Venable of Tigers starter Jack Flaherty, who struck out seven and gave up one run over 5 2/3 innings. “But really happy with the way the guys continued to battle. These guys kept grinding, and really happy with the way they finished the game.”

Luis Robert Jr. is at the center of the White Sox attack. In fact, he’s the main power source for this group, at least for the time being, with his name also at the center of trade talks. The All-Star center fielder had a strong Cactus League showing (.966 OPS), seeing a great deal of pitches and highlighting a personal Spring Training high for walks during a recent interview with MLB.com.

That success hasn’t quite carried over to the regular season. Robert finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, including the strikeout to end the game against reliever Will Vest, and is 4-for-25 (.160) with one extra-base hit, two walks and nine strikeouts through the first seven games.

Much like Vargas with the offense as a whole, Venable doesn’t seem to be concerned with this slow start from Robert.

“He's going to continue to work and put balls in play hard,” said Venable, pointing out his 113.8 mph lineout, according to Statcast, in the sixth inning. “Maybe the last couple games he hasn't had the results, but his process has been good. He's been working really hard, and it's going to happen for him here soon.”

White Sox pitching, as a whole, has been the team’s strong suit through this first week of action, especially the starting rotation, which put up a season-opening streak of 28 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. Jonathan Cannon was part of that run, pitching around three walks and four hits during his season debut to hurl five scoreless innings.

Cannon wasn’t so fortunate against Detroit. The right-hander gave up three runs on three walks and three hits, needing 88 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings. Detroit hitters had a good approach, although Cannon put the onus on himself.

“Felt good, body felt good, just way too many free passes. I think that goes off the last start as well,” Cannon said. “Obviously, didn't let anyone score last week, but keep letting guys on, eventually they're going to come around and score. Just got to continue harping on getting ahead.

“I actually did a pretty good job on getting ahead today. Felt like I was in a lot of two-strike counts. I just threw some uncompetitive pitches to let them back into counts, and it forced me to make pitches there like 3-2. I just shouldn't let them back in the count like that. I should make some better pitches."

The White Sox ninth-inning rally forced Tigers manager A.J. Hinch to use Vest for the final three outs, so it was a very small victory in the context of a bigger setback. The White Sox have played solid baseball overall to start the ‘25 campaign, but they are far from where they want to be -- both now and for the future.

“Today obviously falls on me. I did not put us in a good position to win the game,” Cannon said. “We've been playing well. Offense is still doing well. The ninth inning there was really good. But we're going to be just fine. I'm not too worried about it."