The Chicago White Sox had a stable current historical past on their aspect in opposition to the Baltimore Orioles, however they by no means needed to face off in opposition to Adley Rutschman.
The Orioles rookie catcher had Sox starter Johnny Cueto’s quantity Thursday evening, tagging him for a two-run homer within the fourth and an RBI double two innings later to ship the Sox to a 4-0 loss at Assured Price Subject.
Rutschman’s three RBIs had been a profession excessive — he had all of 4 in his first 26 video games.
“He had an enormous evening,” Sox supervisor Tony La Russa stated. “See if we will make some changes, maintain him quiet.”
Cueto threw 5 ⅓ innings, allowed seven hits — together with a two-run homer to Rutschman — and struck out seven.
The Sox had received eight straight in opposition to the Orioles relationship to Could 1, 2019. However they went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring place and left 11 on base.
“I might say we must always win the sport while you get 9 hits and plenty of laborious outs — you must mark one thing, proper?” La Russa stated. “So we hit plenty of balls laborious and couldn’t break by way of.
Added catcher Seby Zavala, who had two doubles: “We had three, 4 balls that had been hit fairly good and thought we had an excellent likelihood to depart the yard or not less than go off the wall. They had been simply dying on the market.”
One vibrant spot for the Sox was Lenyn Sosa’s major-league debut, which made a long-lasting impression on the infielder: “Step on the sphere and see the gang, the stadium, the followers. I’ve by no means performed in a stadium like this.
“It was fairly wonderful.”
The Orioles thought that they had grabbed an early lead on Trey Mancini’s would-be RBI double within the third inning, however Cedric Mullins was tagged out sliding into house. The Orioles challenged, believing the left-field relay from A.J. Pollock to Tim Anderson to Zavala got here too late, however the name was upheld.
Within the fourth, Ryan Mountcastle doubled to middle and superior to 3rd on Leury Garcia’s error. Rutschman made the Sox pay for that mistake with a two-run homer.
Gavin Sheets, enjoying his first sport within the majors since June 9, gave the Sox hope for a response with a double within the backside of the inning, however proper fielder Austin Hays threw him out at house after Leury Garcia’s line-drive single.
Sheets adopted Jake Burger’s sixth-inning double with a stroll and chased Orioles starter Dean Kremer, however reliever Felix Bautista struck out Zavala.
Sheets labored a 3-0 depend within the eighth, however the drama ended with a flyout to the center-field warning monitor.
“Good at bats. Excellent,” La Russa stated.
Accidents pressured the Sox to shuffle the lineup for the sequence opener.
Anderson, who turned 29 on Thursday, led off with backup shortstop Danny Mendick out for the season with a torn ACL in his proper knee. Anderson went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
La Russa opted to interchange proper fielder Adam Engel, who went on the 10-day IL with a strained proper hamstring, with Sheets and stored Andrew Vaughn at first base.
Luis Robert was coping with a leg challenge that arose throughout Wednesday’s sport in opposition to the Toronto Blue Jays, so La Russa opted to take a seat him and inserted Leury Garcia in middle.
“It’s baseball. It’s a part of the sport,” Cueto stated of all of the accidents. “I believe it’s a must to be like a horse — simply maintain transferring ahead.”
The Sox’s unique plan for Sosa was for him to make his debut someday throughout the four-game weekend homestand in opposition to the Orioles — simply not Thursday. However Josh Harrison was shaken up after getting hit by a pitch within the backside of the fifth, and Sosa changed him at second within the sixth. Sosa struck out in his first profession at-bat, then walked within the ninth on a nine-pitch at bat.
“I assumed his first at-bat was all proper,” La Russa stated. “I assumed his second at-bat was one of many highlights of the evening. We had been competing at that time. He drew a stroll, fouled off a few powerful pitches. I assumed that was very spectacular.
“He has all of the attributes of being an excellent hitter.”
Harrison suffered a bruised proper triceps, and X-rays had been detrimental. He’s everyday.
“He’s acquired an enormous ol’ knot at the back of his proper throwing arm,” La Russa stated. “It was a peculiar option to get hit.”
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