What the heck is wrong with Mark Buehrle? The White Sox ace is struggling mightily this season. During his career, he has thrown a no-hitter in 2007; followed that up in 2009 by pitching Major League Baseball’s 18th Perfect Game. Buehrle is also 13th on the active pitchers list in wins with 138. With four All-Star appearances and a Gold Glove also to his credit, Buehrle is pitching like the exact opposite of a man with all of those honors.

Buehrle is 3-6 this season after throwing his second consecutive game where he gave up six earned runs. His first two starts of the year count for two of his three wins. At that point his ERA was 2.40. It’s ballooned to 5.40 since then. The difference today was that he only lasted three innings against the Indians, but came out with a no-decision as opposed to a 5.1 inning loss he suffered to the Rangers last Tuesday. His June ERA at this point is 12.96.

Buehrle has allowed at least four runs in seven of his 12 starts this season. He only has 30 strikeouts in 70 innings of work and has not thrown more than four strikeouts in a game this season. While he’s never been consistently high in strikeouts, his strikeouts per nine innings total of 3.9 is the lower than any season-finishing total he’s had in his career. Mercifully, he’s kept his walks under control, only allowing 19 free passes so far this season.

Buehrle needs to right his ship quickly. The White Sox are fading fast in the American League Central. Chicago has had a hard time putting together any kind of streak and are perilously close to taking their name out of any early playoff consideration. We’re a month away from the All-Star Game in Arizona, and if Chicago, or specifically Buehrle, doesn’t put together a winning streak soon, the last two months of the season might take a long time for the White Sox to play.