Covey struggles as Rangers dominate White Sox, 11-3

If you’re looking for good White Sox news on this lovely Friday night, I would suggest reading Darren Jackson’s minor league update.

But, since you’re still reading this, let’s go over the 11-3 pummeling the Sox received from the Texas Rangers — it wasn’t a whole lot of fun.

After escaping a first-inning jam, Dylan Covey gave up a pitiful seven-spot in the second inning. Covey has not been as successful as of late, after turning in quality outings against the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians earlier this month.

Rougned Odor crushed a home run to right field to lead off the inning. Yoan Moncada committed his 13th error of the season on the next batter to add insult to injury. Things continued to unravel that inning with home runs from Robinson Chirinos and Nomar Mazara.

Covey came into this game giving up just two home runs in 44 ¹⁄₃ innings; he now has six in 46 ²⁄₃ innings.

The offense certainly didn’t put on a show, either. Jose Abreu continued to scuffle at the plate, as his average dipped to .268 after an 0-for-4 tonight. He still should be the starting first baseman in the All-Star Game, though, so keep on voting!

Avisail Garcia was the lone bright spot in the lineup, going 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI single. Kevan Smith added a hit of his own, and has now hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games.

Other than that, no hits from Moncada or Tim Anderson, so not the greatest day on the major league club for the rebuild.

But it wasn’t all depressing tonight. And I’m not just talking about Steve Stone mentioning that he went to high school with Joe Walsh.

It was in fact Matt Davidson coming on in the eighth inning to absolutely dominate with a 1-2-3 inning. He topped out at 92 mph (!) and tantalized Odor on a few breaking balls to get the strikeout. He was greeted with smiles and high fives from all when he entered the dugout after recording the third out. It was a fun ending to a dismal game.

The Sox dropped to 28-53, while the Rangers improved to 37-46. It is officially the halfway point of the season for the Sox. Here’s to watching Eloy Jiménez and possibly more (Michael Kopech, Ian Hamilton, Jordan Stephens?) in the second half.