By Mark Gonzales, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — If this was Jake Peavy’s final start at U.S. Cellular Field as a member of the White Sox, his teammates didn’t present him with any surprises Thursday night.
Specifically, an offense that hasn’t offered much run support in Peavy’s starts continued to struggle with runners in scoring position as the Sox loaded the bases with no outs twice but managed only two runs.
That shortcoming, along with a series of two fundamental deficiencies in the bottom of the eighth inning, caught up with the Sox as the Rays’ Evan Longoria launched a home run with one out in the ninth off Brett Myers to hand the Sox a numbing 3-2 loss.
The Sox’s deficit in the American League Central swelled to two games behind the Tigers with six games remaining. And with the Sox losing for the eighth time in nine games, regaining momentum seems just as ominous as trying to catch the Tigers.
“We had it right there in front of us tonight, and through a lot of the last 11/2 weeks,” Peavy said. “I just couldn’t be good enough.”
Peavy, who is likely not to have his $22 million option picked up by the Sox and instead receive a $4 million buyout, threw 71/3 innings of four-hit ball and preserved most of a taxed bullpen.
Pitching on five days’ rest, Peavy showed his strength by striking out four of the first six batters he retired. But he was tagged for a run in the fourth on Carlos Pena’s sacrifice fly, and Luke Scott opened the fifth with a home run.
The Sox unraveled offensively in the eighth. After singling to start the inning, A.J. Pierzynski was pulled in favor of pinch-runner Jordan Danks.
Dewayne Wise was summoned to pinch-hit for Dayan Viciedo, but Wise failed on two sacrifice bunt attempts before striking out. Alexei Ramirez hit a deep fly to center for the second out, but Danks failed to re-tag second base while retreating to first and was called out for the third out of the inning.
Longoria cranked his 14th homer to give the Rays their eighth consecutive victory and their 13th triumph of the season in their final at-bat.
“We weren’t doing the small things to win games,” manager Robin Ventura said. “Over the course of time, it builds up.”
The Sox, who were batting .179 with runners in scoring position in their last 20 games, continued to minimize opportunities and were only 1-for-8 in those situations.
That was clear in the fourth and fifth innings when they loaded the bases with no outs. Their first run came after Pierzynski swung wildly and struck out for the first out. Dayan Viciedo was hit by a pitch near the midsection for the first run, but the Sox couldn’t advance runners any farther.
In the fifth, the top of the order loaded the bases but scored only when Paul Konerko grounded into a double play.
Usually dependable Alex Rios struck out to strand Kevin Youkilis at third.
