Johnny Cueto Questions White Sox Fire In Kansas City

The second inning of Wednesday night's contest against the Kansas City Royals summed up the White Sox evening in a nutshell. Jose Abreu led off the inning with a double. Andrew Vaughn and Yoan Moncada drew back-to-back walks to load the bases and set the table for Gavin Sheets with one out. To Sheets credit, he lined the first pitch he saw to left. MJ Melendez, who is a catcher by trade, came racing forward to secure the out and then began to jog in, thinking there were three outs. But Jose Abreu did not tag up from third and wound up slipping, killing any chance he had to score. Lenyn Sosa then struck out to squash the rally. That set the tone for the rest of the game—missed opportunity after missed opportunity. Through five innings, the White Sox were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Leaving that much meat on the bone came back to bite the White Sox. In the sixth inning, Johnny Cueto was left in the game a batter too long and gave up a two-out game-tying single. Jake Diekman served up a home run to MJ Melendez in the following inning, and the wheels fell off. Four runs later, the White Sox found themselves on the wrong end of an 8-3 deficit. The loss cost the White Sox a chance to gain ground in the division. With a win, the White Sox would have pulled just a half-game back from the Cleveland Guardians and taken possession of second place in the division. Instead, they fell to two and a half back and third place in the AL Central. The White Sox have now fallen to 39-50 when anyone not named Dylan Cease takes the mound for them. After the game, Johnny Cueto questioned the White Sox fight.

"We can't get comfortable. We need to go out and play and play hard and show what we can do," Cueto said after the game."We need to fight. We have to show the fire that we have-if we have any."

That last statement from Cueto is a statement that has been indicative of the White Sox season to this point. Much has been made about the White Sox lack of energy at times. Fans have noticed it, broadcasters have seen it, and now it appears some players in the locker room are aware of it as well. The Kansas City Royals are 46-66, with the fourth worse pitching staff in baseball. The fact the White Sox have only been able to score eight runs in 27 innings is pathetic.The schedule won't be getting easier any time soon either. Series against the Astros, Guardians, Mariners, Padres, and Twins are on the horizon. Piddling around during the easy portion of the schedule could come back to bite the White Sox. As Johnny Cueto said, they need to show that fire. That is, if they even have any.