It was another game in which the White Sox failed to pressure the opposing pitcher.
With the Sox trailing by a run in the sixth inning Saturday, center fielder Luis Robert Jr. singled on a 97 mph fastball near the top of the zone from Pirates starter Luis Ortiz to score right fielder Tommy Pham. Robert then stole second base, putting the Sox in position to score again.
But the rally fizzled after designated hitter Gavin Sheets flied to left field and first baseman Andrew Vaughn grounded out to end the inning.
The Pirates promptly scored two runs in the seventh to take the lead back, and they blew the game open with three runs in the ninth on their way to a 6-2 victory.
The Sox fell to 27-70, giving them the most losses before the All-Star break in major-league history, breaking a tie with the 2018 Orioles and the 1979 Athletics.
They’ve lost a litany of games in which they were competitive until the end but faltered because the offense didn’t produce, the defense committed crucial errors or the bullpen imploded. Sometimes it was a combination of all three.
‘‘Those games are tougher to swallow,’’ Robert said through an interpreter. ‘‘Those losses in close games are tougher, for sure. But that’s part of the game. You try to battle, and you try not to get to those situations.’’
The Sox weren’t stringing together strong at-bats or drawing walks. Pham was the only Sox player with a walk, coaxing one in the first inning. Ortiz cruised through 5⅔ innings, allowing one run and four hits and striking out five.
It took until the third for the Sox to get their first hit — a single by catcher Martin Maldonado — and until the fourth for them to reach second. That came on an error by Ortiz.
Sox starter Chris Flexen rebounded from a shaky start — he allowed a double and a single on his first three pitches — to cruise through the Pirates’ lineup. He allowed two runs and five hits with two walks and four strikeouts in six-plus innings.
‘‘I thought I mixed [my pitches] pretty well,’’ Flexen said. ‘‘Had some situations where the defense picked me up and was able to keep the game where it was at throughout that outing and try to compete.’’
Entering the game, Sox starters had a 3.10 ERA since June 7. But the hitting has failed the pitching, ranking last in the majors in runs per game (3.18), batting average (.220), slugging percentage (.347) and on-base plus slugging (.628).
‘‘Hitting is tough,’’ manager Pedro Grifol said. ‘‘You’ve got to go and grind at-bats out. All these guys are trying to put together quality at-bats every single time; nobody’s ever trying to waste at-bats. They had a good plan coming in. We just didn’t execute today.’’
One game remains before the end of an otherwise-forgettable first half.
‘‘You can’t hide what everybody can see,’’ Robert said. ‘‘It’s been what it has been. We have to keep working hard to try to get a better second half.’’
