The helmet Xander Bogaerts slammed in front of home plate barely had come to rest when the Red Sox shortstop not-so-subtly tossed his batting gloves in the same vicinity.

Bogaerts was beside himself after he took strike three from White Sox right-hander Mike Pelfrey to end the top of the first inning Wednesday night. Andrew Benintendi struck out in the same fashion one batter before. Josh Rutledge ended the second by flailing at a Pelfrey offering and Pablo Sandoval did likewise to end the Red Sox fourth.

In all, Pelfrey retired five Red Sox that way before his evening ended abruptly after five innings. He threw 83 pitches during that span, allowing no runs, two hits and two walks.

The White Sox’s one-run lead immediately came to an end too during their 4-1 loss at Guaranteed Rate Field. Besides Tim Anderson’s RBI double with two out in the third inning, Pelfrey received no backing from his offense.

A wild pitch, two soft singles and a couple of questionable defensive decisions allowed the Red Sox to score four times on four hits in the sixth off reliever Anthony Swarzak.

Part of the reason Pelfrey was pulled likely had to do with opponents’ batting average when facing him for the third time: .556.

Pelfrey has held them to a .220 cumulative average in their initial at-bats and .143 the second time around the order.

Pelfrey has allowed two earned runs in his last 16 innings spanning three starts after giving up 15 in 232/3 in his first five since he was called up from Triple-A Charlotte.

pskrbina@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ChiTribSkrbina