(670 The Score) The White Sox saw their 2020 season end in heartbreaking fashion with a close loss to the Athletics in the deciding Game 3 of their wild-card round series last October. In the mind of former pitching coach Don Cooper, it was a game they would've won if not for a cruel twist.
The White Sox used right-hander Dane Dunning as an opener for that game, then turned to 2020 first-round pick Garrett Crochet out of the bullpen with two outs in the first inning. The plan was for Crochet to throw at least two innings and bridge the game to the rest of the relievers, according to Cooper.
But Crochet exited with one out in the second inning with an injury that proved to be a flexor strain. His early departure caused the White Sox's pitching plan to unravel in a 6-4 loss that ended their season.
"If Crochet doesn't get hurt and we don't have to take him out, we win that game and we move on to the next game," Cooper said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Thursday. "That I believe in my heart and soul. But an injury to a young kid who we can't mess with. If he's able to go out there and give us two more innings, which he was allowed to do that day -- his work limit that day would've been at least two more -- when that happens, we had to look to some other guys that we weren't quite planning on. We had to piece together the game differently.
"Everybody had a say in what was going on. Everybody had a say. We discussed how we were going to handle every game, every game, to be clear, on who was available, how much they were available and all those things."
Cooper and White Sox manager Rick Renteria were let go after the season in what the team called a "mutual parting of ways." In Cooper's eyes, that characterization was false. There wasn't much that was mutual on his end.
"Here's where you cut through the crap," Cooper said. "'We no longer want you to do what you're doing. Not only that -- 'You're gone, you're out.' That's what it means. OK, I don't want to be somewhere where I'm no longer wanted. I'm not into that. I was proud to serve and lucky and blessed in getting the opportunity I had."
Cooper also expressed support for Renteria, who was often criticized for his strategical decisions.
"Rick Renteria was a hell of a manager, and I don't care what anybody thinks or says," Cooper said.
