Orioles 4, White Sox 0: Stuck in a Rut(schman)
Thursday night’s White Sox game featured several events that have become commonplace thus far in the 2022 season:
- Johnny Cueto provided a serviceable start from the 5th slot in the rotation.
- The White Sox lost a starter to injury.
- And, of course, the lineup struggled against right-handed pitching.
More important than any of that was the offensive performance from Orioles catcher and reigning best-prospect-in-baseball Adley Rutschman, who drove the first three Baltimore runs to lead the O’s over the Sox.
Cueto pitched around hard contact for most of his day, but Rutschman was the one Baltimore hitter he couldn’t solve. In the 4th, Ryan Mountcastle hit a double well over an oddly shallow Leury Garcia‘s head in center. Garcia fumbled the ball trying to get it in, allowing Mountcastle to go to 3rd on an E8. Fortunately or unfortunately, the error didn’t matter because Rutschman followed up by blasting a 2-2 meatball over the Baltimore bullpen for a 2-0 lead.
The 6th inning followed a somewhat similar script, as Austin Hays hit another laser beam over Garcia (who was again playing surprisingly shallow). This one bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double. Hays advanced to third on single by Mountcastle, then scored when Rutschman doubled off reliever Reynaldo Lopez.
Baltimore kept the Sox off the board behind (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) a career-best start from a mediocre righty. Dean Kremer pitched decently, but Chicago blew plenty of scoring chances; they actually somehow had runners on base in every single inning. Notably, Gavin Sheets had multiple good plate appearances in his return from Charlotte, including a double and walk, while Seby Zavala hit two doubles. However, the lineup finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and the solitary hit (a single by Garcia) led to Sheets getting thrown out at home on yet another terrible Joe McEwing send.
This game may not have had quite as many boneheaded plays or “Fire Tony” chants as we’ve seen in recent homestands, but the result was the same: another uninspiring loss in a season chock full of them.
NOTES
- Lenyn Sosa made his major league debut replacing Josh Harrison at second base. Harrison was hit by a pitch on his right elbow and is day-to-day. Sosa finished 0 for 1 with a K and a BB.
- AJ Pollock, Tim Anderson, and Zavala teamed up to save a run by nailing Cedric Mullins at home in the third inning.
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Im more mad that i could’ve watched a fun Astros/Yankees game but instead i watched this bad rerun. This felt like a game from the first month where every hard hit ball found a glove or died on the track.
Although i dont know if this is a hot take or not but i do think this Orioles team isnt as bad as the record says. They play in an impossible division and i wonder where they would be if they played in the Central.
That has been my response to the “easy part of the schedule” argument for a while. This O’s team is not bad – they have taken two series from the Rays, one from the Red Sox, one from the Cards, and split with the Jays (all since early May) and play a lot of good teams close. Also, there is nothing easy about going to Anaheim and San Francisco – I’ve seen a lot of tough series for the Sox in Anaheim no matter how poorly the Angels are playing.
On the flip side of the O’s playing in the Central, if the Sox played in the East, they would not have even made the playoffs last year. And they would have zero chance this year.
So if we were in the East we’d be….the O’s
Hey, at least in October you won’t have any such conflicts to watch the Astros/Yankees ALCS.
Well, it’s hard to win when you don’t score any runs. I don’t know what the Sox’ record is in such games this year, but I’d wager it’s well below .500.
That’s a pretty good wager, you must be almost as bright as I am!
It was a AAAA lineup. With this lineup we are probably equal to the Orioles
Is Harrison the injury when you say Sox “lost a starter”?
I can deal with that. Sorry Josh.
Greg
Josh Harrison
Greg Nelson
White Sox international signee 2B “Y. Sanchez” hit a HR in the Knights game last night… and it wasn’t Yolbert. Good to see Yolmer still kicking around.
The Sox would be a better team if they’d just kept Yolmer and 2B the last three years.
You say that like you think a gold glove matters.
Sosa didn’t even get a hit and yet it’s still clear he’s a better offensive option at 2B than the other guys.
No, it’s not.
It’s clear (to me) he can’t be worse
Sosa’s power alone gives him a chance to exceed two league worst guys. No guarantee, rookies can struggle and be pretty bad, but I’m guessing he would outproduce the disaster duo if given a chance. Which doesn’t mean he would have to be great, or even good, or even mediocre. Just not complete suckdom.
I am even willing to wage he will outproduce them together. Like if you combined their stats, Sosa’s will be better.
Come on! He’s sporting a career .500 OBP. He should be batting leadoff tonight.
I don’t think you’ve been paying attention to where the Sox bat their high OBP guys.
Remember when Vaughn was batting 9th? Lol.
In all seriousness, I’ve been wondering if the front office stripped Tony of his power to set the lineup. The lineups went from so often making no sense…to consistently making sense…and it seemed to happen overnight. On several occasions I’ve wondered if someone else in the org is dictating lineups to Tony.
Except that The Russa fav Leury started in CF
It was either Leury or Adam Haseley – there wasn’t anyone else available who can play CF
Unless Haseley is hurt, there is no bleeping reason that Leury Garcia should start in CF. Even if Haseley never gets a hit, defense alone should settle that.
Pollock.
AJ really doesn’t have the sprint speed for CF anymore.
Leury is so bad in center that I honestly believe Pollock would be a better choice.
I mean, maybe. The fact that he worked a nine pitch walk in his second MLB at-bat has my attention. That is seriously impressive.
Context: Leury has 3 walks this year.
one of them was last night though
I was at the game last night. Sosa’s AB in the 9th was excellent for a AA rookie. 9 pitches and he draws a walk. Then Anderson and Vaughn follow it up with two terrible ABs and each K on really bad swings. Do these guys get scouting reports that are accurate on opposing pitchers? Do they read them?
And I agree that the Orioles are not a bad team. They are up and coming and when the unbalanced schedule goes away next year they will be in the thick of it because they won’t be buried by playing so many games against the AL East. Mullins in particular made great catches in CF to take away extra bases.
More importantly, do they watch the previous guy bat? Lol.
If they’d been facing the same pitcher as Sosa they might have had better at bats.
Lenyn Sosa faced Dillon Tate, TA and AV faced Jorge Lopez?
It actually was enjoyable watching the O’s OF play. I couldn’t help but admire their go get mentality.
Leury starting at 2b tonight, Sosa not in lineup. Fuck La Russa. And this team.