Matt Garza felt he was just a little off. It was enough to make for another shaky outing. Garza gave up two home runs, and the Texas Rangers lost 5-2 to the surging Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
"I had my slider again and it was down. I just paid for the two balls I left up," he said.
Jordan Danks became the first major leaguer in nearly six decades to back his brother with a homer, connecting after he replaced the injured Avisail Garcia, and the White Sox won for the eighth time in nine games.
John Danks (4-10) outpitched Garza (3-2), allowing two runs over six innings for his second straight win, and the White Sox took two of three from the AL West leaders. Josh Phegley went deep after hitting the winning single in the ninth inning the previous night.
Garza allowed five runs -- four earned -- and seven hits over seven innings. He has allowed at least four runs in five straight starts, but manager Ron Washington figures better days are ahead.
"He's a tremendous pitcher," Washington said. "He'll get comfortable and start winning us some ballgames."
Actually, the Rangers have been winning with him. They're 5-2 in his seven starts. But after two impressive outings against the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels following a trade from the Chicago Cubs, Garza hasn't exactly delivered as expected.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
On Sunday? "I just felt a little out of sync, like I was trying to do too much," he said. "You get ahead of yourself and sometimes you've just got to take a step back to put the whole thing in."
