All-Star rookie Shane Smith powered the White Sox to a 6-0 series-opening win against the Royal Monday with seven innings of one-hit ball in the best start of his young career.
On the fifth anniversary of ex-Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter against the Pirates, Smith didn’t allow a baserunner until the bottom of the third inning, mowing down Royals with a steady diet of 97 mph four-seamers and sinkers, while mixing in a buckling 84 mph curveball.
Royals’ right fielder Mike Yastrzemski tagged Smith for a ground-rule double, but that was it for Kansas City against Smith, who needed just 80 pitches to get through seven innings, allowing a walk and three strikeouts. Reliever Tyler Gilbert finished the job.
It was the Rule 5 draft pick’s fourth straight solid start during a month that has seen him rebound from a midseason slump. His ERA had doubled from his dazzling start through mid-May by the time he represented the Sox at the All-Star Game.
“In every situation that we’ve seen him in, he looks like a guy that’s extremely confident,” manager Will Venable said. “His stuff belongs at the highest level. He’s just a young guy who doesn’t seem overwhelmed by anything and can be challenged and able to overcome challenges that are thrown at him.”
The Sox gave Smith more support than he’d need in the first inning, pouncing on Royals’ starter Noah Cameron with three RBI doubles, one each from Edgar Quero, Lenyn Sosa and Curtis Mead.
Recently called-up catcher Korey Lee smacked a two-run homer in the fourth inning, and left fielder Brooks Baldwin went back-to-back to make it 6-0. Sosa added an RBI single in the seventh to score Miguel Vargas, who doubled.
It was the third straight win for the Sox, who mustered five runs throughout their three-game series in Kansas City a week ago.
Rookie rest
This rebuilding Sox team has to learn how to win consistently — but they’ve also got to figure out just how to get to the end of a regular season.
Prized rookies Colson Montgomery and Kyle Teel were both out of the starting lineup Monday as the Sox try to keep their young core players healthy down the stretch of their first major-league seasons. Venable said they’re mapping out days off in the midst of a 17-game marathon without an off-day as many players go deeper into a year than they ever have before.
“They’re all grinding, and that’s a big part of being a major leaguer, getting through the dog days here,” Venable said. “We do what we can to give the days here and there, at the same time they’re going to have to figure out how to play and be productive with their bodies not feeling great.”
Teel said he’s added a five-minute plunge in the cold tub to his pregame routine as he adjusts to the rigors of his first late-summer campaign.
“This is obviously a little bit more games than I guess a lot of us are used to because in the minor leagues, we’re not playing 162, but I feel prepared and I feel like this is a lot of fun, so I’ve been having a blast,” he said.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source chicago.suntimes.com ’
