The White Sox blew another lead in their franchise-record-tying 13th consecutive loss Wednesday.
Reliever Michael Kopech served up a walk-off home run to Mike Tauchman in the ninth inning, lifting the Cubs to a 7-6 victory at Wrigley Field.
‘‘Unfortunately, I’ve been in some positions where I’ve given away a couple of games when we’ve played good games,’’ Kopech said. ‘‘That’s the job, though. But the role that I’m in right now, you want to be the guy on the mound — win or lose.”
The Sox were swept in the two-game series against the Cubs despite holding leads in both games. They have blown leads in four of their last five games.
‘‘I know we haven’t given Sox fans a ton to cheer about this year,’’ right-hander Erick Fedde said. ‘‘This was my most important game of the season at this point. I wanted to be a little better. [I] battled. It sucks we lost.’’
Once again, the Sox’ bullpen — which entered the game with a 4.57 ERA, 26th in the majors — allowed the Cubs to come back, this time from a 5-1 deficit. Right-hander Michael Soroka threw 1⅓ innings before left-hander Jared Shuster replaced him in the midst of the Cubs’ three-run seventh.
Soroka threw 38 pitches and endured some lengthy at-bats. He struggled with his command and was unable to find the strike zone consistently, throwing only 22 strikes. Shuster allowed both runners he inherited from Soroka to score as the Cubs took a 6-5 lead.
‘‘I feel like it’s a broken record,’’ second baseman Nicky Lopez said. ‘‘We have a hard time just putting everything together.’’
That the Sox let the Cubs come back was an indictment of a porous bullpen that has the highest walks-per-nine-innings rate in the majors.
For the second consecutive game, the Sox got a solid start. Fedde followed right-hander Chris Flexen’s five innings of one-run ball Tuesday by yielding three runs and six hits in five innings.
The Sox don’t have answers as to why they can’t seem to close games.
‘‘If I had the answer, we would be winning some more ballgames,’’ Fedde said. ‘‘Starters, we’ve got to go deeper and give our bullpen a breather, give those guys chances to feel fresh. It’s just just a tough one. We want to finish off games.’’
Fedde’s pitch count rose because he often found himself in jams. In the second, he faced a bases-loaded situation with one out but struck out catcher Yan Gomes and got Tauchman to ground out to escape the jam.
The performance was a step in the right direction for Fedde, who has struggled on the road this season. His outing against the Cubs was a step up from his last start against the Brewers, in which he allowed four runs and nine hits in five innings.
But the bullpen continues to be a major problem for the Sox. As they sit with a 15-47 record, the toll of losing is starting to set in.
‘‘Every day we step on the field, I expect to win the ballgame,’’ Fedde said. ‘‘The guys in the locker room do, too. When you don’t win, obviously it’s tough. But it’s the thing about baseball. We show up again tomorrow and can start a hot stretch. Just looking forward to the next day.’’
