Not that it matters much with a commanding nine-game lead in the AL Central, but the division-leading White Sox have struggled of late, dropping four of their last five including a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Toronto Monday night at Rogers Centre. Cy Young candidate Lance Lynn (who was ejected from his last start after umpire Nick Lentz thought the right-hander was showing him up during a foreign substance check) delivered another gem for Chicago, cruising through seven innings of one-run ball in a no-decision. The Pale Hose ace made only one mistake, grooving a 3-0 fastball to Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero, who plopped it into center for an RBI single.
White Sox skipper Tony La Russa lit into Seby Zavala upon his return to the dugout the following inning, giving the catcher an earful for gifting a 3-0 fastball to one of the most feared hitters in baseball. Zavala was eventually pinch-hit for in the ninth inning, concluding a rough night for the 27-year-old, who went 0-for-3 at the plate with two strikeouts and was also charged with a passed ball.
You’ll notice Zavala set up low and away, but Lynn’s fastball missed high, allowing Guerrero to drive in the game-tying run. Lynn took responsibility for the mishap after the game, acknowledging that he made a bad pitch to an opportunistic hitter who loves making pitchers pay for their mistakes. “It was stupid—there’s no other way to say it,” Lynn relayed to Lamond Pope of the Chicago Tribune. “I told Tony that when I got in [the dugout], that was all on me. I was trying to throw a ball and it ran back over the plate. When you go back and look at it, it’s not in a terrible location, but you don’t throw a 3-0 strike. There was never any intention to throw a strike.”
If anyone on the White Sox deserved a tongue-lashing for their performance Monday it was Craig Kimbrel, who allowed the go-ahead run to come across in the eighth on a wild pitch, his second of the inning. Kimbrel has been a disaster since Chicago acquired him at the trade deadline, submitting a 5.79 ERA with a loss and a blown save in 10 lackluster appearances out of the White Sox’s pen.
La Russa has had a short fuse this season, scolding Yermin Mercedes for homering in the ninth inning of a 16-4 blowout back in May while eagerly confronting Indians catcher Roberto Perez during a bench-clearing incident last month. Zavala, for what it’s worth, is getting the night off Tuesday with Zack Collins catching for Dylan Cease.
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