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 night time, 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 Guaranteed Rate Field.
Rutschman’s three RBIs had been a profession excessive — he had all of 4 in his first 26 video games.
“He had a big night,” Sox supervisor Tony La Russa mentioned. “See if we can make some adjustments, keep 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 May 1, 2019. But they went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring place and left 11 on base.
“I would say we should win the game when you get nine hits and a lot of hard outs — you should mark something, right?” La Russa mentioned. “So we hit quite a lot of balls laborious and couldn’t break by.
Added catcher Seby Zavala, who had two doubles: “We had three, four balls that were hit pretty good and thought we had a good chance to leave the yard or at least go off the wall. They were just dying out there.”
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 group, the stadium, the followers. I’ve by no means performed in a stadium like this.
“It was pretty amazing.”
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.
In 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 recreation 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. Very good,” La Russa mentioned.
Injuries 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 saved Andrew Vaughn at first base.
Luis Robert was coping with a leg difficulty that arose throughout Wednesday’s recreation 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 part of the game,” Cueto mentioned of all of the accidents. “I think you have to be like a horse — just keep moving forward.”
The Sox’s unique plan for Sosa was for him to make his debut someday through the four-game weekend homestand in opposition to the Orioles — simply not Thursday. But 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 thought his first at-bat was all right,” La Russa mentioned. “I believed his second at-bat was one of many highlights of the night time. We had been competing at that time. He drew a stroll, fouled off a few robust pitches. I believed that was very spectacular.
“He has all the attributes of being a good hitter.”
Harrison suffered a bruised proper triceps, and X-rays had been unfavorable. He’s daily.
“He’s got a big ol’ knot in the back of his right throwing arm,” La Russa mentioned. “It was a peculiar way to get hit.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com