White Sox lose, 7-1, falling short in bid to sweep Reds. 3 takeaways from the series win.

CINCINNATI — Bryse Wilson walked Gavin Lux on four pitches to begin his start Thursday.

“Second start in a row walking the first guy on four pitches, which is unacceptable,” the Chicago White Sox pitcher said. “Physically, I felt good. It was just very bad execution.”

Lux eventually scored the first of three runs in the first inning for the Cincinnati Reds, who went on to defeat the Sox, 7-1, in front of 19,513 at Great American Ball Park.

Elly De La Cruz singled and scored during the three-run first and added a solo home run in the third for the Reds. Will Benson and Matt McLain added solo home runs in the fifth and sixth, respectively.

Wilson allowed seven runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts and one walk in 5 1/3 innings.

“The pitch count kind of stayed pretty good even though I was giving up runs,” Wilson said. “To be able to still cover innings definitely helps us going into this next series against the Cubs. Probably the only good thing that came out of today.”

The Sox (14-30) saw their season-high three-game winning streak end.

Near the end of the game, the Sox announced they claimed infielder Vinny Capra off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers. Capra, 28, is 4 for 54 (.074) with one home run and four RBIs in 24 games this season. He has played 17 games (11 starts) at third base, two (one) at shortstop and two at second.

“Really like defensively, gives us an opportunity to move (infielder) Chase (Meidroth) around, to give Chase days,” manager Will Venable said.

Here are three takeaways from the series at Great American Ball Park.

1. Nick Martinez kept the Sox off-balance.

Miguel Vargas sprinted down the line, looking to get the Sox off to a good start in Thursday’s series finale.

Umpire Tripp Gibson initially ruled Vargas beat third baseman Santiago Espinal’s throw to first for a leadoff single. But the call was overturned after a video review.

The first hit of the game for the Sox wouldn’t come until one out in the fifth, when catcher Matt Thaiss singled to right field. Reds starter Martinez retired the first 13 batters. The streak came to an end with the Thaiss single.

Martinez allowed two hits and struck out three in seven scoreless innings.

“He pounded the zone and his change-up was really, really good today,” Thaiss said. “That’s what I saw from the left side of the plate. It’s a very slow, big change-up with a lot of movement, a lot of depth and just kind of kept a lot of our guys off-balance.”

Vargas ended up with two of the team’s four hits with singles in the sixth and eighth. The second drove in the club’s only run.

2. Jonathan Cannon and Davis Martin blitzed the zone.

Cannon surrendered at least two walks in each of his first six appearances this season.

The right-hander has not allowed a walk in any of his last three outings, a span of 18 innings. Cannon followed opener Brandon Eisert on Tuesday and allowed four hits while striking out six with no walks in six innings of the 5-1 victory in 10 innings.

“I was struggling with it at the beginning of the year, walking guys and giving up hits and the walks going around to score,” Cannon said Tuesday. “So not (walking) guys is huge. It makes it very difficult on the other team. It’s hard to string hits together in this league. So not helping them get on base is huge.”

Martin extended the no-free-pass zone Wednesday, allowing one run on seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks in a career-high 6 2/3 innings in the 4-2 win.

“It was just a testament to the Reds lineup,” Martin said. “They do a really good job of controlling the zone. That was our focus going in, blitz the zone and be in the zone often. Just like any pitcher, trying to get two out of three strikes and get it into good spots. We’ve been doing that the last few nights and hopefully we keep it up.”

3. Mike Vasil shined in his ninth-inning opportunity.

Vasil knew he’d be available to pitch Wednesday. He just wasn’t sure which relief role.

“I’ve thrown the longer relief roles, I’ve thrown an inning or two here or there — but I did not have it in the cards that I was going to go in the ninth tonight,” Vasil said.

Vasil recorded the first save of his major league career Wednesday, working around a one-out walk for a scoreless ninth in the victory.

“It’s my job to be ready for whatever,” he said. “So when that phone rings you’ve got to be ready one way or another.”

Vasil estimated it was his first save since he was in high school, “seven years ago.”

He called the ninth-inning experience Wednesday “a lot of fun.” Vasil was the final of four relief pitchers the Sox utilized following Davis Martin’s start.

“We like Mike, he’s done a great job for us,” Venable said Wednesday. “We trust him back there, and how these games unfold, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do right then. And that kind of got us in a spot where we had to use Mike there late, which we were comfortable with, and obviously he got the job done.”

The Reds made sure the Sox weren’t in position for a save Thursday with the three runs in the first against Wilson.

The Sox were attempting to complete their first sweep of the season. Instead, they had to settle for taking two of three. It’s the first time they’ve won a road series in 2025.

“Ended on this note, where we were feeling really good and thought we were in a good spot to play a good game today — disappointing not to do that, but overall a great series,” Venable said Thursday. “And we’ll turn the page on today and go out and fight the Cubs tomorrow.”