White Sox starter Shane Smith can’t get through fourth, admittedly ‘killing our bullpen’
The intimate gathering of 10,750 on Tuesday afternoon at Rate Field was roughly the size of an expanded knitting circle and required the patience typical of the yarn-and-needle crowd.
Before the White Sox succumbed to the Orioles 4-2, the outcome remaining in doubt until Munetaka Murakami struck out as a pinch hitter with the tying run on base in the ninth, six Sox pitchers had combined to throw 197 pitches.
That number falls well short of record territory — just last March, the Athletics threw 246 pitches in an 18-3 loss to the Cubs. But when you throw that number of pitches and hold the winning team to just four runs, now that doesn’t happen every day.
In the last 31 seasons, it has happened to the Sox just four times. Who’s counting? Well, Shane Smith for one. The 2025 All-Star, still looking to find his way this season, alternated between punchouts and free passes before his afternoon screeched to a halt with two outs in the fourth, having expended 99 pitches to that point.
The right-hander struck out eight, including Gunnar Henderson after a 12-pitch, bases-loaded battle to end the second. But he also walked five and conked Blaze Alexander on the top of his helmet, though he managed to avoid yielding a run.
That in itself was progress for a guy carrying a 19.29 ERA and two losses after his first two starts (10 earned runs, 4‰ innings). He acknowledged as much. But he also expressed distress at the burden he was putting on the bullpen.
“Just killing our bullpen,’’ Smith said. “As we get into the season and the games start stacking up, we need these guys to be as fresh as possible. Not being able to get past 3⅔ in your first [three] starts just puts you in a tough spot.’’
There were definite signs of progress. While he still struggled with his fastball command, Smith induced 17 swings and misses.
“Changeup and curveball were amazing, especially in that long at-bat with Henderson when he struck him out with a 3-and-2 changeup,’’ said lockermate Mike Vasil, the team’s spirit leader while he recovers from season-ending Tommy John surgery.
We haven’t even reached Tax Day yet, so Smith has plenty of time to reclaim his old form. But no one’s sitting back, either.
“As important as Shane is to this club,’’ manager Will Venable said, “we have to have a sense of urgency here, obviously, in making him better and supporting him.’’
The Sox’ bullpen held the Orioles at bay, nursing a 2-1 lead until the eighth, when doubles by Alexander and Taylor Ward off Jordan Hicks tied the score, and Henderson’s two-run homer off former Red Sox lefty Chris Murphy produced the final margin.
The Sox have lost 14 of their last 15 games against the Orioles, including 10 in a row here, even though the Orioles were just 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position, leaving the bases loaded twice in the first four innings.
Henderson, who shared shortstop with Bobby Witt Jr. on Team USA in the WBC, is starting to resemble Witt as a feared Sox tormenter. He has homered in each of the last two games and has five home runs, a .338 batting average and a 1.037 OPS against the Sox in 21 games.
Murakami, who had been given the day off by Venable, was summoned with one out in the ninth to face 100-mph Orioles closer Ryan Helsley. Murakami went down swinging at a four-seamer just a tick below the century mark, and Derek Hill flied out to end it.
The small crowd was no surprise, given the last-minute switch to daylight hours because of a forecast of near-freezing temperatures after dark. Better to shiver in 36-degree weather with the sun shining, someone decided, than fighting frostbite at night. The game ended in 3 hours, 8 minutes, plenty of time to knit a couple of sweaters.