White Sox 9, Marlins 1: Renteria’s lineup shuffle works

White Sox win

Ricky Renteria decided to shake things up with the lineup.

By moving Jon Jay to the second spot behind Leury Garcia, slotting Yoan Moncada at cleanup, and dropping James McCann down the order was an attempt to pair the hotter bats together. In 19 games, Jay was hitting .314/.355/.386 with a wRC+ 101, and even though he wasn’t slugging much, if Jay could get on base in front of Abreu and Moncada, perhaps it could open up more scoring opportunities.

The gamble worked. Garcia and Jay did their job getting on-base while Abreu and Moncada provided the fireworks to an easy White Sox win, 9-1.

In the first inning, Jay got the party started single to center and advanced to second base on a wild pitch by Miami Marlins starter Trevor Richards. Abreu waited long enough to pull a changeup to left field off the wall for an RBI double. Moncada used the same hitting plan and pulled a changeup to right field for an RBI single, and the White Sox were up 2-0.

Next time through the lineup, Jay hit a hustle double to set the table for Abreu. This time, Abreu crushed a hanging curveball out to center field for his 22nd homer of 2019.

Third time through the order, Garcia singled and Abreu walked giving Moncada a chance to bust it wide open. On another changeup in the zone, Moncada smacked a no-doubter to center field for his 18th homer of the season, and the White Sox were up 7-1 after five innings.

Meanwhile, the bottom of the order was having a tough time getting any offense going until the sixth inning. James McCann went oppo taco for his 12th homer of the season, and Ryan Goins made it back-to-back shots hitting his second with the White Sox.

Nine runs of support are plenty for any pitcher, but Ivan Nova was able to find an early rhythm and cruise through the Marlins lineup. Jorge Alfaro did tag Nova hitting a solo home run in the second inning, his 11th home run of the season. After that blast, the Marlins couldn’t follow up with more offense. Nova threw a complete game only allowing the one run on four hits while striking out five with no walks.

Game Notes:

  • Tonight was the first game with the protective netting going down both foul lines. Curtis Granderson was the first player to run into the netting while making a catch.
  • White Sox were 4-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Record: 45-52 | Box Score | Highlights

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21 Comments
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GoGoSoxFan

Is it time to drop Abreu to the clean up spot and put Moncada in the three hole?

karkovice squad

No, both for L-R reasons and because you want the better hitter batting 4th.

GoGoSoxFan

I thought conventional wisdom was to have the better hitter at #3 so he’s guaranteed to bat in the first inning.

karkovice squad

Conventional wisdom is wrong. Statistics say the 3 hitter will frequently bat in the 1st with 2 outs and 0 baserunners. If the 4 hitter bats in the 1st, by definition they have a runner on and more likely in scoring position or already scored. If they don’t bat in the 1st, then they’re in position to increase the odds of getting on base to leadoff the 2nd.

Anyway, these are incredibly small margins of difference we’re talking about. It’s more important to just make sure you’re 1a) adding more good hitters to the lineup and b) clustering your best hitters in whatever order at the top of the lineup to get them the most PAs. Secondarily L-R and run expectancy optimization.

GoGoSoxFan

Interesting response ksquad. I used the term conventional wisdom because I happen to agree with you on this. The idea of the best hitter at #3 became conventional in the days of Bobby Bonds if I remember correctly. It may have been Whitey Herzog who first tried it with Jack Clark in the mid 80’s, but the trend became widespread in the 90’s. Prior to that every team’s best hitter batted clean up. All you need to do is look at who’s been hitting #3 for the Sox the past five years; Jose Abreu. Hard to argue he hasn’t been the best hitter on the team during that time.

GoGoSoxFan

EDIT: BARRY BONDS, not Bobby (showing my age there).

karkovice squad

Well, the stats say the best overall hitter in the lineup should be batting 2nd not 4th, anyway. So all of the conventions, new and old, aren’t so wise.

karkovice squad

Nova & McCann almost completely abandoned the changeup. Lowest % & raw total all season. Which is good because it’s not working.

Probably still threw too many curves but whatever.

Trooper Galactus

Finally, after years of speculation, Curtis Granderson goes down in White Sox history.

Papa Giorgio

Kenny always gets his man

soxfan4life

its a long shot to think this but if nova can turn the corner&help lucas,lopez&cease that will be a boost to the rotation&when eloy&timmy gets back the lineup will be even better(i like jay batting 2nd good job rick) sox havent really went on a REALLY good run maybe getting that funk out of the way they maybe could. Sox have won 3 out of their last 4 they trying to wash off the K.C. stench off of them a little bit lol. hope covey bring something tommorrow or the offense repeats itself like tonite. idk ijs lol GO SOX!!!

Jim Margalus

This is probably the only White Sox game I’ll get to all year, and it’s hard to think of a better one. First time since 2013 that they scored nine runs in a game that took less than 2.5 hours.

Digger910

Happy Moncada Day dude!

kujoth

Pretty good game to impress the future in-laws too! :p

iowasox1971

Lineup switch worked great, but the lack of protection for Moncada in the lineup could prove costly in the games to come, although it might not be as much of a factor once Jimenez and Anderson return.
Great to see Nova pitch a complete game.

mikeyb

Moncada is an extremely patient hitter who has no problem working a walk if a pitcher wants to try to pitch around him. If lineup protection was a thing (which, most stats say it isn’t), he is the exact type of hitter who wouldn’t need it anyway.

knoxfire30

Im hoping the top of the 2021 lineup goes something like

1. Robert
2. Madrigal
3. Jiminez
4. Moncada
5. Vaughn

and as you put this together you can see why a power lefty bat is so high on the off season wish list

Trooper Galactus

There’s two lefty bats at 4 and 5 who should be capable of hitting 25+ home runs and getting another lefty bat is a top priority? I dunno, and this is probably the first plan I’ve seen that doesn’t include Abreu in the near term.

roke1960

There’s only one lefty bat in that top 5, and he’s a switch hitter.

knoxfire30

uh right just 1

plus factor in anderson and mccaan are likely in that lineup as straight righties too…. so…. DH and RF spots have to lefty or switch hitters with power IMO

roke1960

Grandal and Sheets?