Burke regrets crucial misstep in otherwise stellar outing

CHICAGO – No two losses truly feel the same for a Major League Baseball team.

White Sox manager Will Venable explained that idea prior to a 4-1 setback to the Astros Saturday night at Rate Field, and following a 9-5 defeat Friday after holding a 5-0 advantage through five innings.

“You know what? They are all different. I will tell you last night’s is harder to shake,” Venable said. “A lot of games we’ve played, we review what we could have done better as a group or what I could have done better with decisions. … As someone who likes to look for a reason why things didn’t go well, last night there wasn’t anything that really stood out.”

Saturday’s setback certainly wasn’t enjoyable for the White Sox, who dropped to 54-49 overall. But it might be just a bit less disconcerting.

Sure, Munetaka Murakami has gone 13 games without a home run, despite just missing one in the ninth inning off Bennett Sousa, and has gone 10 games without an RBI. Yes, All-Star Miguel Vargas has two home runs in July.

And shortstop Colson Montgomery, who ended a stretch of 13 unanswered runs scored by the Astros (52-54) dating back to Friday’s sixth inning with a ninth-inning, run-scoring single, also fouled a pitch off his right shin in that at-bat. The foul ball hit near the damage he did with a foul ball in Texas.

“Pretty sore,” said Venable of Montgomery. “Obviously, he was able to finish that at-bat. He’ll get treatment and see where we’re at tomorrow.”

Instead of looking at what was missing with his hitters, Venable heaped praise upon Houston starter Hunter Brown (2-1). The right-hander yielded two hits over seven scoreless innings, striking out seven.

Brown’s stellar effort hung the loss on Sean Burke (7-5), who was just as good as he has been for more than one month. Burke cruised through five innings in a scoreless battle before the Astros scored three in the sixth.

Cam Smith was hit by a pitch, Jeremy Peña followed with a single just under Montgomery’s glove and Yordan Alvarez walked to load the bases with nobody out. Isaac Paredes followed with a two-run single to right, and when rookie right fielder Braden Montgomery charged in for a potential play at the plate, the ball rolled under his glove and to the wall, allowing a third run to score.

Burke struck out 10 while walking just one, giving him two double-digit strikeout performances this season and three for his career. He became the first White Sox right-hander to record multiple double-digit strikeout games in a season since Dylan Cease posted four in 2023, but he was still bothered by the way the sixth inning unfolded.

“I knew coming into it [Brown has] a good arm and has got good stuff and can make it tough on an offense,” Burke said. “Those first five innings, I put myself in position to go pretty deep into that game, and then more just frustrated with hitting the leadoff guy.

“It's tough to hit the nine-hole [batter] and have to go face the top of the lineup with a guy on first where he didn't earn it. Guys got on with a couple of singles that found some holes. The end of it was kind of frustrating with me knowing that he's putting up zeros and trying to match it. It's frustrating to get outdueled like that, but he did a good job tonight and kept us off balance."

Over his last 10 starts, covering 58 1/3 innings, Burke has a 5-2 record with a 2.47 ERA and 76 strikeouts. Since walking five in consecutive starts against the Phillies and Dodgers on June 6 and June 13, Burke has seven walks against 57 strikeouts in 44 2/3 innings.

“Really good fastball, a lot of cutters to the lefties today and really good breaking stuff, too,” Venable said. “He attacked and was outstanding.”

“I've always felt like when I'm at my best, I was capable of doing this,” Burke said. “It's all about consistency for me.”

If the playoffs started this upcoming week, Burke would be the Game 1 starter for the White Sox. Of course, the Trade Deadline is arriving on Aug. 3 and general manager Chris Getz could make some moves.

The South Siders’ playoff push didn’t take much of a hit Saturday, as every team in the American League Central lost but the Twins and Royals. The White Sox enter Sunday’s series finale leading the Guardians by 1 1/2 games, the Twins by 3 1/2 and the Tigers by five.

Nonetheless, with his team dropping three of its last four, Venable wants to get back to celebrating wins instead of explaining losses.