Mired in a season-long five-game losing streak, the Chicago White Sox could really use a win Saturday night.
Manager Will Venable could use one even more.
Venable and the White Sox will look to bounce back from an embarrassing defeat when they host the Cleveland Guardians Saturday night in the middle game of a pivotal three-game series between the American League Central rivals.
Left-hander Anthony Kay (8-5, 4.01 ERA) is slated to start for the White Sox against Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams (11-6, 3.56 ERA).
Angel Martinez hit a grand slam and finished with a career-high six RBIs Friday night for the Guardians, who inched closer to the first-place White Sox by cruising to an 8-2 win. Chicago enters the game with a two-game lead over Cleveland and the Minnesota Twins in the Central.
Martinez opened the scoring with a two-run single in the first off Noah Schultz, whose accidental exit immediately thereafter due to a mistake by Venable further set the tone for the White Sox.
Venable was charged with a mound visit following the single after pitching coach Zach Bove visited Schultz two batters earlier. Once Venable crossed the base line, it became the second mound visit of the inning and, by rule, Schultz had to be pulled.
Venable, who has steered the White Sox to a 59-56 record following three straight 100-loss seasons, said he intended to make an appeal when he left the dugout.
“Just an inexcusable mistake by me where we had an appeal play that we wanted to execute and, in the urgency trying to make that happen, just totally lost that we had visited,” Venable said. “Just messed it up.”
Schultz wound up throwing just one-third of an inning and gave up two runs. He faced just five batters.
Rookie David Sandlin relieved Schultz and blanked the Guardians until giving up five runs in the fifth, when Martinez hit his grand slam.
Martinez’s big night helped provide a rare cushion for starter Parker Messick, who cruised through seven innings of two-run ball as Cleveland (58-59) moved within two games of the White Sox. The Guardians and Twins are also a half-game behind the Texas Rangers (58-58) in the race for the final wild card.
The eight-run outburst marked just the 18th time this season the Guardians have scored more than six runs in a game. The White Sox have done it 27 times.
Offensive struggles are nothing new for the Guardians, whose 467 runs rank 28th in the majors. Cleveland has finished in the top half in the majors in runs scored just twice since 2021.
“That’s exactly what we needed,” Messick said of Martinez’s grand slam. “That big swing out of him is what we’ve been looking for, for what feels like a couple weeks now.”
Kay and Williams each recorded the win with impressive scoreless outings in their most recent starts last Sunday. Kay tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings as the White Sox rolled to a 9-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays while Williams allowed one hit over 5 2/3 innings as the Guardians beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-0.
Kay is 0-0 with a 0.79 ERA in four career games (two starts) against the Guardians. Williams is 1-1 with a 5.32 ERA in five starts against the White Sox.
After the game, the White Sox sent both Schultz and Sandlin to Triple-A Charlotte. Multiple reports said Chicago will call up left-hander Hagen Smith and right-hander Tanner McDougal to take their place, though the team had not confirmed that as of Saturday morning.
Smith is Chicago’s No. 2 prospect and McDougal the No. 4, as ranked by MLB Pipeline.
–Field Level Media
