After struggling to find the strike zone before the All-Star break, Michael Lorenzen vowed to be better in the second half for the Texas Rangers.
The right-hander’s first chance at improvement comes Monday night in Arlington, Texas, when the Rangers host the Chicago White Sox to begin a four-game series.
Lorenzen’s 44 walks issued this season are tied for the 10th-most in baseball even though he ranks 83rd with 92 innings pitched.
In his most recent start on July 10, Lorenzen (5-5, 3.52 ERA) walked four and hit a batter on top of the five hits he allowed, which added up to five earned runs in a 7-2 Texas road loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
It marked Lorenzen’s third consecutive outing with at least four walks. Lorenzen said he has been trying to throw harder than necessary, which has weakened his pitch quality.
His solution?
“Just stepping off the gas a little bit and knowing that 90-93 (mph) is good enough, especially if I’m using my whole pitch mix,” he said.
The 10-year veteran promised to adjust accordingly and “come back strong” after the break.
“I hate to lose, but sometimes it takes getting punched in the face like that to make a change,” Lorenzen said.
Fortunately for Lorenzen, the White Sox have the second-lowest walk rate in baseball, drawing free passes across 7.1 percent of their plate appearances.
Chicago’s offense as a whole has been dormant so far out of the All-Star break. The White Sox managed one run in each of their three losses and were outscored 17-3 at the Kansas City Royals over the weekend.
Sunday’s 4-1 setback marked Chicago’s seventh straight loss, which deteriorated its major league-worst record to 27-74.
The club is on pace to finish 43-119, which would tie the 2003 Detroit Tigers for the worst record over a 162-game season in major league history.
“I’m a competitor at the end of the day and want to win baseball games,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said after Sunday’s loss. “That’s the most important thing at the major league level. But there is a process to this thing we’re going through right now. It hurts.”
Shortstop Paul DeJong has faced Lorenzen the most among Chicago’s current hitters. Over 18 at-bats, DeJong has tabbed for Lorenzen for five hits — including two home runs — and six RBIs.
Lorenzen, 32, is 1-0 with a 2.50 ERA across eight appearances (five starts) against the White Sox, who will send Erick Fedde (7-3, 2.99) to the mound on Monday.
Fedde, a 31-year-old in his seventh major league season, will face the Rangers for the first time.
He finished strong leading into the All-Star break, allowing one run over 11 innings in his past two starts. The right-hander last pitched on July 10, when he scattered four hits over five scoreless frames in Chicago’s 3-1 home win over the Minnesota Twins.
Fedde will face a Texas squad that was kept in check during most of a three-game home series against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Rangers struck out 10 times in Friday’s 9-1 loss and 13 times in Saturday’s 8-4 setback. Jonah Heim’s three-run homer on Sunday was enough to help Texas salvage the series with a 3-2 win.
Heim has nine home runs this season, half as many as Corey Seager’s team-leading total. DeJong leads the White Sox with 16 long balls.
