Sixth-inning miscues squander right-hander Shane Smith's debut in White Sox' 8-3 loss to Twins
It was a familiar sight for White Sox fans in the sixth inning.
Holding a three-run lead, the Sox needed one out to escape the inning. But starter Shane Smith — making his major-league debut — suddenly couldn’t find the strike zone, walking center fielder Byron Buxton and left fielder Trevor Larnach to end his day. He failed to get either Twins hitter to chase on his fastball.
Then Penn Murfee entered but didn’t fare much better. He allowed four singles before the inning ended when second baseman Edouard Julien was caught stealing home.
Smith, who threw 5‰ innings, allowing two runs and two hits and striking out three, said his mechanics got out of whack in the sixth. Manager Will Venable said pitching coach Ethan Katz noticed Smith’s velocity had dropped, but he assured them he was fine.
“Whether I say I’m tired or I’m not, if I’m missing fastballs up, that’s an indication,” Smith said. “I wanted the last guy. Every guy wants their last guy. They don’t want to be pulled in the middle of an inning.”
After being lights-out through four games — the starting staff’s streak without an earned run allowed ended at 28 innings — pitching hurt the Sox in an 8-3 loss Tuesday night.
Smith — whom the Sox chose No. 1 in the 2024 Rule 5 draft — resembled the pitcher the team saw in spring training, when he had a 3.38 ERA in four starts. His first strikeout victim was three-time All-Star Carlos Correa, who swung and missed on a 92 mph changeup.
“It’s the day you look forward to for a very long time,” Smith said of his debut. “And to finally have it happen is pretty surreal. Just a lot of excitement.”
The key stat for Smith was four walks. If he can’t harness his stuff and be more -consistent in the zone, then he’ll find himself in some jams.
Murfee, who allowed three earned runs without recording an out, said he was ready to pitch despite Venable getting him warmed up late in the sixth. The right-hander said he should have made an adjustment after the first pitch. He didn’t believe he did a good job of getting the Twins off-balance, even if some of the singles were softly hit.
“They do all count and it’s tough when you got a starter like Shane in his debut,” Murfee said. “He did so well. You want to come in and do a job and minimize [the -damage], get out of the inning for him.”
Walks were the main culprit in the loss. The Sox are a team with a small margin of error and can’t give away bases. They have talked about how they need to play to win games: consistent defense, smart at-bats and efficient pitching.
In the third inning, shortstop Brooks Baldwin made a great adjustment to catch first baseman Andrew Vaughn’s throw as Baldwin stepped on the bag at second and rifled a throw back to Vaughn, who made a nice pick at first for the double play.
In the fourth inning, Baldwin made a nifty play against catcher Ryan Jeffers to prevent a base hit — the hit had an expected batting average of .430 and was well-struck.
It’s not the most exciting brand of baseball, but it’s what wins games. One bad -inning cost the Sox Tuesday. It’s on them to -ensure they don’t cost them many more.