MINNEAPOLIS — Pedro Grifol was upbeat, as he often is.
A visitor to the visiting manager’s office at Target Field might not have known his White Sox had lost 17 games in a row and were on the verge of No. 18, which came in the form of a 10-2 Twins blowout.
Shorter streaks have cost managers their jobs, but Grifol, whose team fell to 27-85, still had his Friday. He was asked if general manager Chris Getz, who doesn’t always travel with the team and was not in Minneapolis, had given him any assurances about his status.
“There are no assurances in anything in this game, especially when you’re having the season we’re having,” Grifol said. “I’m not looking for assurances. I’m here to work. And I’m going to work until they tell me I’m not here anymore. Or they tell me I am.”
The Sox are so bad, the narrative has changed from challenging the 1962 Mets’ record for futility (120 losses) to the 1961 Phillies’ record 23-game losing streak. The Sox have been swept in series 17 times, so getting swept by the Twins and Athletics on this trip isn’t exactly a reach. That’s what it would take to tie the Phils’ record.
During the Sox’ recent three-game sweep at the hands of the Royals, the strain of the skid was starting to show on Grifol around his team and with the media.
But he was in a better mood pregame Friday, even though Getz had avoided giving a vote of confidence for the third or fourth time this season Tuesday, and with a day off Thursday, speculation about Grifol getting fired was circulating.
“This is part of the job,” Grifol said. “We all know it. Even the teams that are winning, there is pressure on the manager. There is pressure on the general manager. This is the business. I understand the business.”
In his first start in 2022 following Tommy John surgery, Davis Martin gave up a two-run homer to Royce Lewis in the first inning and a two-run double to Lewis in the third, and that’s all the Twins (60-48) needed for Joe Ryan (7-7), who allowed Migual Vargas’ homer but combined with three relievers on three-hitter. The Sox’ worsening bullpen was pummeled for six runs in the eighth.
The Sox have been outscored 112-39 during the skid, which is quite the burden to bear for Grifol, in his second year after losing 101 games in 2023.
“I’m going to control the things I can control,” he said when asked how he’s holding up.
Players pushed back some at Grifol demanding more pregame mandatory work after the All-Star break, and it didn’t look good when Steven Wilson, pulled in the eighth inning when he was charged with five runs, had a less than respectful looking ball exchange with Grifol.
“No, he said my thumb got stuck under his and it was almost like kind of holding on to the ball and trying to get the ball,” Grifol said. “It was just one of those.”
In any case, player support for the manager came from Gavin Sheets.
“This is a tough time for a manager,” Sheets said. “It’s not easy to go through as a team. We’ve stayed together through all this.”
Sheets refuted a report of Grifol telling players, in a meeting in Kansas City coming out of the All-Star break, that the record for futility would be solely on them.
“Unfortunately, stuff came out about Pedro that wasn’t true,” Sheets said. “The speech, the wording [of the report on social media] wasn’t what he said to us or portrayed at all. Taken out of context, it was unfair to him. Just another thing thrown into the fire on all this.
“I do want to get that out.”
Sheets said Grifol’s message was “the worst thing we can do is come in the second half and completely give up.”
Fight or no fight, there seems to be no end in sight for this streak.