"I don?t think he pitched that bad," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters after the Sox dropped their second straight to Texas. "He pitched good enough to win, but we continued to struggle with the bats."

The White Sox really struggled in the fifth inning. Trailing 3-0, they loaded the bases with one out against Rangers starter Matt Harrison on consecutive singles by Alexei Ramirez, Brent Lillibridge and Jayson Nix, who made his first start for the Sox .

But Harrison got out of the jam, striking out Josh Fields and retiring Carlos Quentin on a flyball to right field.

"That was the game right there," Guillen said.

The White Sox played without Jermaine Dye, who was hit on the left hand in Saturday night?s game, and Jim Thome, who got the night off against the left-handed Harrison.

If there was any good news, it was on Dye?s injury.

The veteran outfielder had to come out of Saturday?s game after being hit by a pitch from Texas reliever Luis Mendoza.

X-rays were negative, and Dye could be back in the lineup tonight or Tuesday at Kansas City.

"I think we got lucky," Guillen said.

"I don?t care if he loses two games, I thought we were going to lose him for a year. When we walked off the field, my mind was blank about what are we going to do, who were we going to bring up, who were we going to trade?"

Scott Podsednik filled in for Dye in right field Sunday night, with Lillibridge moving over to center.

Reserves Corky Miller, Wilson Betemit and Nix were also in the lineup, so the offensive results were somewhat predictable.

To make matters even worse, Fields was also hit on the left hand by a Harrison pitch in the first inning.

The Sox ? third baseman stayed in the game, but he didn?t look comfortable and could be held out of the lineup against the Royals tonight.