CHICAGO –– Shane Smith called Monday’s pregame bullpen session “probably the worst” of the year. He’s had good pregame bullpens that don’t translate well to games and vice versa, so he tries to use them as a way to make adjustments, if necessary, going into the game.
He didn’t put a superlative on the start that followed against the Kansas City Royals, but a seven-inning shutout in a 7-0 win at Rate Field certainly falls in the upper tier.
“You can quantify starts differently than others,” Smith said. ”I’m really happy with this one.”
The first pitch of the game was a good indication of what was to come. Smith hurled a 95 mph fastball over the plate, inducing a pop out in foul territory by Mike Yastrzemski. The Royals didn’t get a hit until two outs remained in the third inning, and that would be their only of the game against Smith.
The White Sox All-Star rookie right-hander landed first-pitch strikes against 21 of the 23 batters he faced Monday. He retired 20 of the 23, walked one, and another reached on a fielding error by Chase Meidroth in the third.
The formula for Smith was to attack with the fastball, get ahead in counts, limit walks and trust his defense. It worked wonders, as he finished with a career-high seven innings, a career-low one hit, zero earned runs, one walk and three strikeouts. It marked his first win since June 10 at Houston and sixth scoreless appearance.
“It wasn’t long, deep at-bats. He was getting soft contact early in the count,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “The little hard contact he gave up, we were able to defend it and did a nice job behind him. He was outstanding. That’s as good as we’ve seen him.”
Though Smith hadn’t pitched into the seventh inning in his Major League career, his efficient night meant he had only thrown 80 pitches through seven frames. That’s familiar territory, having thrown 80-plus pitches in 14 of his 22 starts this season.
It’s not always easy for pitchers to accept their night being over, but Smith understood.
“I did a short discussion with him about trying to go back out there,” Smith said. “But you know, he said, ‘You did a really good job today, you did everything we needed you to do.’ So I’m not gonna fight that.”
“They’ve been really good with my innings and my pitch counts since the start of the year. Making sure you’re doing everything behind the scenes in the weight room and training room and all that stuff. Making sure you’re ready every five, six days, whatever it is.”
Venable acknowledged Smith was capable of going deeper from a pitch-count standpoint, but instead he turned it over to left-hander Tyler Gilbert, who threw two scoreless innings.
“Not so much the pitch count as much as it is pitching in the seventh inning there, which is something he hasn’t done this year,” Venable said. “We were comfortable with where the pitch count was at. Beyond that, probably had some more in the tank. That’s unchartered territory for him this year. He did his job.”
With their third-straight win, the White Sox improved to 48-83 ahead of Tuesday’s 6:40 p.m. CT game against the Royals. They turn to left-hander Martín Pérez against Kansas City right-hander Michael Lorenzen.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
