"Keep your head up" - Interim White Sox manager Grady Sizemore remains optimistic despite debut loss

Grady Sizemore, the newly appointed interim manager of the Chicago White Sox, praised his team's performance in the 7-6 loss to city rivals Chicago Cubs at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday night. He also applauded the atmosphere inside the arena on his debut as a MLB manager and hoped that home fans would continue to show such strong support in the future.

The White Sox slipped to a 7-0 deficit as their star pitcher Garrett Crochet suffered his worst outing of the season, giving up nine hits, including four home runs, in 2.1 innings.

The home team, though, responded quickly, scoring four runs in the fourth inning before Andrew Benintendi hit his second home run of the night in the seventh to cut the Cubs' lead down to just one run.

However, the White Sox couldn't overturn the deficit despite putting the Cubs under serious pressure, as they left two runners on base while surrendering the final out in the ninth inning.

Still, Sizemore was pleased with the effort from his players despite the loss:

“I’m sure when I wind down, I’ll be pretty tired. Obviously wins are the only things that matter in this sport, but I even told those guys right when I came in that was an unbelievable effort," Sizemore said.

“Keep your head up. Don’t feel bad about that. I couldn’t be prouder or happier of that effort. The fight and the energy in that dugout, it felt like a playoff game. The crowd was going nuts. I hope they are all like that, honestly,” he added.

Grady Sizemore had a 10-year major league career as a centerfielder and was a three-time All-Star during eight seasons with the Cleveland Indians from 2004 to 2011.

He hit 150 home runs in the big leagues and racked up more than 1000 hits at an OPS above .800 and finished with 27.8 bWar.

---

"Grady Sizemore knows the game better than anybody in this clubhouse": Garrett Crochet

Grady Sizemore has won the respect of Chciago White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet (Photo Credit: IMAGN)

Pedro Grifol was dismissed as the manager of the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, just a day after the team had snapped a 21-game losing streak, the worst run in the franchise's long history.

The White Sox have been the worst team in the MLB since the start of the season - going 28-90 - as they hurtle toward their second straight 100-loss campaign.

White Sox general manager Chris Getz named Grady Sizemore as the team's interim manager until the end of the season. Sizemore was appointed to the coaching staff under Grifol at the start of the season, and he seems to have earned the trust of the players.

“The guy knows the game better than anybody in this clubhouse. With him at the helm, we feel like we’re in a really good position,” Garrett Crochet said after the game.

“Everybody in here has got a pretty good relationship with Grady Sizemore. He's obviously not too far removed from [playing] the game. He keeps it light. We were wanting to get that win for him tonight, but hopefully we grab it tomorrow," said outfielder Andrew Benintendi.

Grady Sizemore and the White Sox face the Cubs again on Saturday before taking on the New York Yankees at the start of next week.