is the pulse fading on this team?

There is still life. But it may be fading fast. Rick Porcello retired the first 12 batters he faced. In other words, the man had a PERFECT GAME going on. Chris Sale was also cruising, but had given up a run after a Jhonny Peralta come backer went off his hand.

No matter as the White Sox would strike first scoring a run in the fifth inning after Paul Konerko finally broke through with a single on the right side. After a series of failed double plays, the Sox would score on a Dayan Viciedo bloop single that drove in Alex Rios.

And like what seems to happen all too often, the Tigers would come back in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring two runs of their own. It would be so nice to have a game where the lead obtained by the Sox wasn’t given up immediately afterward.

Of course, the real damage came in the bottom of the sixth inning. More of that stupid two-out scoring by the Tigers. This time, on the back of Brennan Boesch’s three-run home run hit with two outs. The Tigers did get shut down in the seventh not scoring any runs, but they probably felt why bother since the Sox offense obviously wasn’t doing anything to make them worry.

Though in the eighth inning they decided to add a few more to take the Sox out of grand slam range for a comeback. And you know when those runs came? Yep, with TWO OUT.

It really wasn’t a good day for Chris. He went seven innings and gave up five runs on seven hits. He also had four walks, one of which was intentional and six strikeouts on the day. His streak of consecutive wins will end at eight. It was a good run. Additionally, Brennan Boesch is the first left-handed batter to get a home run off of Chris Sale all season long. Lefties did have seven extra-base hits prior to the home run though. Of course, I do wonder what if in terms of what might have been had he not tried to get that Peralta ball that hit off of his pitching hand.

Le sigh! The Sox are now a half of a game out of first place thanks to the Tigers winning by a final of 7-1 today. Porcello was given a chance to pick up his first career complete game. However, that didn’t happen as he let the first two Sox hitters on base in the ninth inning and Jim Leyland was taking no chances. No matter as the small rally was immediately killed after Kevin Youkilis hit into a double play even though a man did get to third base. Big Donkey goes down to end the game on a strikeout.

Tomorrow the Sox will try to get back in first place. Philip Humber will go up against Jacob Turner.