ST. LOUIS — Tommy Pham was off and running in his first week with the White Sox, injecting some sorely needed pizzazz into a lineup that has been in the doldrums.
That Pham is able to make an impact is saying something, considering he isn’t happy with his selectivity at the plate in his first seven games since signing a minor-league deal as a free agent.
“From the plate-discipline aspect,” Pham, 36, said. “Let’s be real, these guys are 30 games in. I’m [seven]. I have to get used to seeing stuff again.”
Nonetheless, Pham is batting .333/.357/.519 with a home run and two doubles in 28 plate appearances. He went 0-for-3 on Friday.
“Sometimes you’d rather be lucky than good,” Pham said. “Really haven’t barreled a ball 110-plus mph, so I’m still waiting for that.”
The Sox (6-26), who have been neither lucky nor good, continued to be historically bad in their 3-0 loss to the Cardinals on Friday. They have been especially bad on the road, where their record fell to 1-14.
That mark ties a modern-era record for worst road start shared by nine teams, most recently the 2005 Astros and Rockies. Whether those Astros finding their way to a World Series loss to the Sox that year is consolation is for you to decide.
These Sox, who have lost nine in a row on the road and four in a row overall, aren’t going anywhere. Their run differential dipped to a major-league-worst minus-87, dragged down in large part by nine shutouts.
Need more numbers in futility? They’ve been shut out in the first game of a series seven times and held to four or fewer hits 12 times.
“[Cardinals starter] Sonny [Gray] was tough,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “We gotta find ways to do something, but this guy has been doing it for a long time.”
In the recent homestand in which the Sox swept the Rays and were swept by the Twins, Pham’s presence helped the Sox average 5.5 runs, raising their average from .192 to .212. Andrew Benintendi (.333 with three homers in five of those games) and Andrew Vaughn (batting .308 in his last six) also helped.
Gray (0.89 ERA) buzz-sawed whatever momentum the Sox had going, pitching seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts. The Sox had only four baserunners against Gray.
“He kept us on our heels,” shortstop Paul DeJong said.
Sox veteran right-hander Brad Keller made his first start, allowing three runs in 4⅔ innings. Willson Contreras doubled in the first, Paul Goldschmidt walked and Nolan Arenado drove them in with a double.
Contreras walked and scored on Arenado’s second double in the fifth inning, which knocked Keller out of the game.
Keller struck out five and allowed five hits.
Left-hander Jared Shuster gave the bullpen a lift, pitching 3„ scoreless innings.
Besides that, there was nothing good about this loss, unless homecomings for former Cardinals John Brebbia, DeJong and Pham count for something.
“Great fans, baseball fans,” Pham said. “Tough place to hit, big gaps. But St. Louis will always have a special place in my heart.’’
Every place, it seems, is a tough place to hit for the Sox. Their best chance to ding Gray came when Pham walked in the third, putting two runners on for Eloy Jimenez with two outs.
‘‘Eloy hit a line drive to the third baseman,’’ Grifol said, “and that’s the only action we had on the offensive side.’’
