MILWAUKEE — The White Sox didn’t have to endure a lengthy plane ride on Monday, and they couldn’t complain about being cooped up in a hotel room for two days or being rained out either.
If there was a good time for the Sox to wake up from their seemingly perpetual road coma, it would be this week after making the 11/2-hour drive from Chicago to Milwaukee for a three-game series against the 12-21 Brewers at Miller Park.
But the Sox defense was caught sleeping from the start Monday night and right-hander Jeff Samardzija flopped in his return from a five-game suspension en route to a 10-7 loss to the Brewers.
The Brewers’ Elian Herrera and Khris Davis hit eighth-inning homers off reliever Zach Duke to wipe out a Sox comeback from a six-run deficit.
Before the game, manager Robin Ventura joked that the Sox should take their beds on the road or order a sandwich they like from home in order to break a road slump that stands at 2-12.
“We need to figure that out,” Samardzija said. “On the road, it’s a little different. You are coming out hitting first. You need to get your rhythm early. The starter is sitting on the bench for the first half and he needs to be ready. I just think we need to play like we do at home, play with a lot of energy.”
The Sox were able to blame their poor road play on the scheduling of a Phoenix-Charlotte-Kansas City journey to start the season and a two-day layoff because of security concerns during the trip to Baltimore. They didn’t have the same excuses Monday, but the bad defense continued, including two glaring Sox errors.
Shortstop Alexei Ramirez committed an error on a routine grounder that helped the Brewers during their three-run first. And right fielder Avisail Garcia, fielding a fifth-inning triple from Carlos Gomez, threw into short left field, allowing Gomez to score.
Gomez also hit a two-run homer in the first against Samardzija, who was pounded for eight hits and seven runs — five earned — in six innings.
“We just have to be cleaner than that,” Ventura said. “When you start out that way and you can’t catch it, it just makes it tougher on the pitching, and I think then the pitcher’s trying to make up for it by doing a little bit too much.”
Samardzija has allowed five earned runs or more in three of his seven starts this season, and all three bad outings have been on the road.
Sox pitchers have a 6.06 ERA away from home, and the Sox had been outscored 89-44 on the road.
“It’s nothing you can really point your finger at,” Duke said. “You have to find a way to win games on the road.”
Catcher Geovany Soto hit a two-run homer in the fifth and singled to lead off the three-run seventh. Jose Abreu hit a two-run single in the seventh, and Adam LaRoche and Adam Eaton added eighth-inning RBI singles.
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