It’s not about to get any easier for the White Sox.
A team that has lost 11 of its last 15 games and has had trouble at the plate is headed out on a three-city, 10-game road trip. The White Sox begin a four-game series at the Kansas City Royals on Thursday before playing three against the New York Mets. After a day off, the White Sox resume their trip with three at the Detroit Tigers starting next Friday.
It wouldn’t appear to be an easy recipe for a team that has lost its last five series and won only one of its last eight.
"There’s always a tough team on the other end of that," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "We just have to regroup, whether it’s at home or on the road and do better at producing when you get opportunities and guys on base."
The White Sox have averaged 2.83 runs per contest over their last dozen. In that span, they’ve hit just .200 with runners in scoring position, going 18-for-90 with four doubles, a homer and 23 RBIs.
Ten of those games came at U.S. Cellular Field, where the White Sox went 3-7 on a homestand against the Houston Astros, Royals and Cleveland Indians. For the team to get back on track, it will have to tap into the formula it has used on the road so far. The White Sox are 14-9 on the road this season and have averaged 4.74 runs per game compared to 3.48 in 25 home games.
"We don’t mind playing on the road," outfielder Adam Eaton said. "We kind of come together as a team, an us-versus-the-world-type mentality that we kind of enjoy. It’s a long road trip. It’s always big going on the road, especially when you’re playing divisional opponents. But as I mentioned (earlier), I could really care less. We take it one game at a time, it doesn’t matter who’s on the mound, division or non-division, we want to win the game. We want to score more runs than the next guy. That’s how we’re going to continue to approach. It’s a solid approach in my opinion, and we’ve had success with it earlier in the season. We’ll try to get back to that, get the offense going."