Perhaps everybody in the White Sox dugout saw a lineup card with no José Abreu, no Tim Anderson, Yoán Moncada at DH and Andrew Vaughn playing second and understood the objective was to head home to Chicago and meet their new teammates.
Or maybe they had higher ambitions, but then they stepped out onto the field at Kauffman Stadium and realized what Ichiro Suzuki meant about Kansas City in the summer.
It's July, not August, but there was an excessive heat warning, and the White Sox regardless, and so the Sox decided to conserve their energy. Carlos Rodón gave up a first-inning homer to Salvador Pérez and a second-inning homer to Michael A. Taylor to start four underwhelming innings. On the other side, the White Sox offense tallied just five hits and a walk while grounding into two double plays.
As for Vaughn at second, La Russa picked the right day to try it. He ended up handling more balls in the air (one popout, one lineout) than grounders, and even then, he started a 4-6-3 double play with a glove flip for the last two outs White Sox pitchers recorded. It's unfortunate that we never got to see him on the pivot, although perhaps that also kept him ready to fight another day. Hopefully the White Sox can say the same.
Bullet points:
*Leury García committed a throwing error by firing high across the diamond after making a backhanded stab behind third base on a hot shot by Jorge Soler. It's the kind of error that almost should reflect positively on his record.
*If Danny Mendick played his last game for the White Sox for a while, well, he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
*Reynaldo López and Ryan Burr each fulfilled their objective of pitching two innings, helping to get the game over in two hours and 46 minutes.
