Shane Smith threw six scoreless innings in a relatively easy, breezy fashion.
Too bad the White Sox needed him to throw nine.
The Sox offense could only spot him a first-inning Andrew Vaughn solo shot, and while he departed with a 1-0 lead after a high-quality start, Steven Wilson gave up a game-tying homer two batters into the relief portion of the evening, and Jordan Leasure and Brandon Eisert combined to let the game get away in the eighth.
Leasure suffered the loss, although he had the higher success rate between the two. He gave up a leadoff single to Dane Myers, but he struck out the next two hitters around a stolen base. Will Venable came out to have Eisert face Jesús Sánchez, Clayton McCullough pinch-hit with Nick Fortes, and McCullough's side prevailed. Fortes didn't do it himself, but he drew a walk to extend the inning to Eric Wagaman, whose line drive left of center fell out of the reach of Michael A. Taylor's all-out diving attempt.
Both runners scored on the play, but only one run was necessary. Edward Cabrera and four Miami relievers combined to limit the White Sox to four hits and a couple of walks, and Vaughn's homer on a clubbed 3-1 sinker in the first inning did the only damage. Lenyn Sosa had half of the White Sox's hits with a pair of singles, but one of them was erased by a double play. They only had four at-bats with a runner in scoring position, and half of them were after Taylor walked and stole second with one out in the third. A pair of fly outs stranded him there.
"At the end of a really good outing to be able to fight through some adversity there and some traffic and come out the other side not giving up any runs is a good moment for him and hopefully something he can build on," said Will Venable. "He's been great all year obviously, and this is another step forward for him."
The 24,264 fans that showed up were at least treated to an outstanding evening from Smith, who pitched six innings of bully ball. He limited the Marlins to a double and three singles over six innings. He struck out seven and generated a hefty 17 whiffs on just 87 pitches.
The two jams he found himself in were mostly the result of wild pitches. In the first, he gave up a leadoff single to Xavier Edwards, who then advanced to second, but while he moved to third on a groundout, Smith struck out Wagaman and Augustín Ramírez to keep the Marlins off the board.
"The velocity was good, mixed some locations early, I think the top of the zone is probably the best part about it," Smith said of a fastball that was overpowering most of the night. "If I personally don't have my fastball, I probably don't have a lot that day. 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."
He ended his night on an even higher note. Javier Sanoja applied pressure when he shot a grounder past Josh Rojas, who deflected it enough to allow Sanoja to stretch it into a double. He then moved to third when a pitch in the dirt got past Edgar Quero's backhand attempt, but Smith bore down. Edwards popped out, Sánchez struck out, and Wagaman hit a harmless fly to Palacios in right to preserve the lead, for at least as long as he was responsible for it.
Bullet points:
*Smith lowered his ERA to 2.08, so he's still the front-runner for the White Sox's All-Star representation.
*Tim Elko went 0-for-3 in his major league debut. Sanoja made a nifty pick behind second base on a broken-bat grounder to deny a first major league hit.
"It was awesome," Elko said of his debut. "To be able to see [my family] and some of my friends who came too, it’s just a surreal moment. All of the hard work comes to fruition. To have them there with me is great."
*The Marlins were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, but the one hit counted for two.
