Ryan Noda appeared to have his second home run as a member of the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n
But Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Jake McCarthy jumped at the wall and made a spectacular catch in the second inning Tuesday at Rate Field.<\/p>\n
Two pitches later, Luis Robert Jr. made sure no one could reach his long fly as he drilled a home run that reached the Sox bullpen beyond the left-field wall.<\/p>\n
That was the first of only three hits the entire game for the Sox in a 4-1 loss to the Diamondbacks in front of 13,001.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese last two games it\u2019s really shown up where they\u2019ve been very aggressive in the zone with the fastball and we just haven\u2019t responded in the way that we need to, to score runs,\u201d Sox manager Will Venable said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be something that we continue to talk about, continue to train and focus on and hopefully we can buck that trend here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arizona starter Ryne Nelson allowed one run on one hit with seven strikeouts and three walks in five innings. The Diamondbacks took control by scoring three runs in the seventh inning \u2014 featuring an RBI single by Alek Thomas, a sacrifice fly by Jose Herrera and an RBI single by Geraldo Perdomo.<\/p>\n
The Sox have lost 11 of their last 13. And at 25-55, they are 30 games under .500 for the first time this season.<\/p>\n
Mike Vasil pitched well in the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with one strikeout in a career-high 5 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
\nPhotos: Chicago White Sox lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Rate Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cMike did a great job, more coverage from Mike than we anticipated going in,\u201d Venable said. \u201cHe looked great. There was some hard contact, some soft contact but he was in control the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasil followed opener Jordan Leasure, who allowed one run in his one inning while making the first start of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpending as much time as I have in the bullpen with all those guys \u2014 and obviously we\u2019ve ran into a couple injuries (to starters Jonathan Cannon<\/a> and Davis Martin<\/a>) so had to be able to get creative \u2014 so I think tonight for me, it was all about how deep can I go to save my buddies in the bullpen and save those guys and be able to give the team the best chance to win and also flexibility moving forward the rest of the week,\u201d Vasil said.<\/p>\n
Robert is hopeful the second-inning at-bat is a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what you want to do,\u201d Robert said through an interpreter. \u201cToday, I felt like I used to feel in the past. Those were the kind of pitches I wasn\u2019t missing before. It was good to be able to put the bat there to hit the ball and get that result. I think that was the part I\u2019ve been missing this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m feeling good. I\u2019ve been feeling healthy, which is the most important part. I\u2019ve been working every day hard, trying to get rid of this situation, this moment passing through. Just working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n