White Sox Waste Shane Smith’s Scoreless Outing In 3-1 Loss To Marlins

CHICAGO – A day that started with excitement around Tim Elko making his MLB debut and right-hander Shane Smith continuing his impressive rookie season ended in disappointment as the White Sox lost 3-1 to the Marlins.

After leading by a run through six innings, the White Sox bullpen gave up three total runs in the seventh and eighth innings Saturday night at Rate Field. With this loss, the White Sox fell to 11-29 ahead of Sunday’s 1:10 p.m. CT rubber match.

The loss put to waste yet another strong outing from Smith, though it didn’t look that way initially. Smith allowed a leadoff single to Xavier Edwards, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. But he got out of the inning with a ground out, followed by two strikeouts.

Smith’s fastball command was key early on. His first strikeout against Eric Wagaman came with two fastballs that landed above the strike zone, yet close enough to induce whiffs. He struck out Agustín Sanchez to end the inning with near-identical location, though it had extra zip at 96.9 mph.

The ability to challenge hitters with high fastballs seemed to help Smith set up his offspeed pitches as his outing moved along. After getting to a two-strike count with a pair of fastballs near the top of the zone, Ronny Simon fouled off a slider before swinging and missing at a low changeup. Smith said postgame it was his most comfortable usage of a variety of pitches this season.

By that point, Marlins hitters appeared to be off balance and guessing against Smith, whose fourth and fifth strikeouts were powered by fastballs on the outer edge. Smith began the fifth inning with a sequence that had been working all night: high fastballs and a drop-off changeup to strike out Connor Norby. He ended the fifth having retired eight straight batters.

“If I personally don't have my fastball, I probably don't have a lot that day,” Smith said. “So making sure I'm executing with that and putting it in the right spot. Velo comes and goes, but if I can execute, good things can happen."

The White Sox are certainly thrilled with how Smith’s rookie season has begun, but an aspect of his development to monitor is how he finishes starts. Smith entered Saturday’s outing ranked first among MLB pitchers who’ve made at least seven starts with a first-four inning ERA of 0.64, 18 total bases allowed and a .191 opponents’ slugging percentage. Pirates ace Paul Skenes was second in the latter category at .223.

But Smith tends to regress after the fourth inning. In the fifth inning or later, Smith had a 7.71 ERA, a 2.04 WHIP and a .463 opponents’ slugging percentage. At first, it looked as if that trend may continue.

Smith began the sixth inning by allowing a leadoff double to Javier Sanoja, who’s ground ball deflected off Josh Rojas’ glove at third and was ruled a hit. A wild pitch allowed Sanoja to advance to third with zero outs and the top of the Marlins’ order due up.

Smith jammed Xavier Edwards with a fastball, which caused a popout, and then he struck out Sanchez on three straight changeups for the second out. He escaped the jam with a flyout by Wagaman, though he may have been fortunate that Wagaman didn’t hit his middle-middle slider harder.

Altogether, Smith finished with arguably his best outing of the season.

“I think getting through six is probably my favorite part,” Smith said. “Just showing longevity and keeping the pitch count roughly in that area where I can go out for the sixth and complete it. Stayed aggressive, mixed speeds, mixed locations, it was nice.”

He finished with six innings, four hits, zero runs, zero walks and seven strikeouts, tying his career-high. That represents Smith’s third start of six innings – he hasn’t gone further – and third scoreless outing. It’s also his only start with zero walks, and the four hits allowed are tied for his third-fewest in a start.

“It's big. You want to, as a starting pitcher your job is to go as long as you can,” Smith said. “I feel like I can do that more often than not. Whether that's up to me is out of my hands, and I'm okay with that. But I want to make the job easier for the guys around me, and I think going six does that.”

Smith exited the game in line for the win, thanks to a first-inning solo home run by Andrew Vaughn, his second in as many days. The White Sox clung to a 1-0 lead until the seventh inning, when right-handed reliever Steven Wilson gave up a game-tying solo home run to Kyle Stowers. Wilson had allowed just one earned run in 10 innings entering Saturday’s game, but this one came at an unfortunate time.

The Marlins took the lead for good in the eighth. White Sox reliever Jordan Leasure gave up a leadoff single, then struck out two batters before being replaced by Brandon Eisert, who walked his first batter. White Sox center fielder Michael A. Taylor – starting in place of Luis Robert Jr., who’s dealing with right knee soreness – attempted to make a diving catch, but he came up short. That resulted in a two-RBI triple for Wagaman, giving the Marlins a 3-1 lead.

Wilson, Leasure and Eisert were each credited with one earned run. Without many save opportunities this season for relievers to prove themselves in high-leverage roles, coupled with it being a largely inexperienced group, the bullpen remains a work in progress.

“We were talking about it before the game and we're lining up some pockets and trying to put these guys in the best situations possible,” Venable said. “It's about the matchups, but it's also about how guys are throwing. So we're just piecing it together day by day."

It was a slow night for the White Sox lineup, which finished with just four hits. Marlins starter Edward Cabrera pitched five innings and allowed season-lows of three hits and one earned run.

One of the White Sox best chances to take the lead came in the seventh inning as Tim Elko approached the third at-bat of his MLB debut after flying out and grounding out in his first two. Elko stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and a runner on second in a 1-1 tie.

He hit the ball up the middle, which looked like a potential go-ahead RBI for a second, but Marlins second baseman Javier Sanoja made a slick play to retire him. Ranging to the far side of second base, Sanoja made a sliding, back-handed stop, then quickly popped up and threw to first while falling down.

“I was hoping that would get through and we could get a run on the board there,” Elko said. “Guy made a nice play.”

Venable said Elko and Vaughn will both be in the lineup for most games. Elko called it a surreal moment to have family and friends attend his MLB debut, as well as a sign that hard work has come to fruition. Though finished his debut 0-for-3, Elko and Venable agreed he put together solid at-bats.

“Felt pretty good about them,” Elko said. “I didn’t get a whole lot of great pitches to hit. They were making some good pitches. I feel like I took some balls and swung at some pitches there on the borderline. That’s baseball sometimes. They make good pitches.”

"He looked comfortable, took some tough pitches,” Venable said. “I thought he constructed good at-bats. Nice play on him up the middle there. So a good day for him to get his feet wet and we'll see what it looks like tomorrow."

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