NEW YORK — The White Sox had high hopes for Shane Smith when they nabbed him from Milwaukee in the Rule 5 Draft.
But they weren’t expecting an All-Star who’d be shutting down the playoff-bound Yankees in late September.
Sure, the Sox didn’t have anything on the line as Smith dominated early in Tuesday’s loss at Yankee Stadium. The Sox haven’t played a meaningful late-season contest in four years, locking up their third straight 100-loss season on Wednesday.
But if they ever get back to contending anytime soon, they just might’ve found the guy who could take the mound in Smith, who’s winding down his first year at 6-8 with a 3.98 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 28 starts.
He held the high-powered Yanks to a run on five hits over five innings with eight strikeouts. The Sox haven’t said if Smith, who’s far beyond a career-high workload with 140⅓ innings pitched, will take his final turn in the rotation this weekend at Washington.
“It’s tough to put into words right now. I’ll probably reflect on this as the season ends and when I’m home for a couple of days and not doing anything. That’s when it will really hit me,” Smith said. “But super grateful to be healthy, super grateful for these guys. We fight our ass off, [and I’m] just trying to show up for them.”
Now Smith wants to take the next step with his teammates.
“I don’t think anybody in that locker room is like ‘It’s our rookie year, we’re OK losing that game,'” he said. “Everybody holds themselves to a high standard and nobody wants to lose.”
Sox lose 100th game
It’s not historic, but it sure stinks.
The Sox dropped their 100th game of the season 8-1 to the Yankees, marking their third consecutive season racking up triple-digit losses, including last year’s all-time MLB worst 41-121 campaign.
MVP candidate Aaron Judge gave New York all the offense it’d need with his 50th home run of the season, a three-run blast off Jonathan Cannon, whose latest big-league outing was only marginally better than his last after being demoted to Triple-A Charlotte. Cannon gave up five runs on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts in 4⅓ innings. Judge later launched his 51st dinger off Cam Booser.
A stronger second-half showing fueled hope that the Sox might achieve the symbolic victory of avoiding the century mark for losses, but their latest 1-10 stretch sank any prospect of softening the blow of the worst three-year stretch in Sox history.
In the end, the difference between losing 99 or as many as 104 this season isn’t much for a rebuilding team focused on player development.
“It’s definitely a number you don’t want to get to,” said Cannon, who was a rookie during last season’s misery. “It’s definitely easy to see this season as a failure, but I think we have a ton of building blocks, a ton of positives to take away into the offseason and look to definitely take a huge step forward next year.”
Roster moves
As the Sox called up Cannon and shut down Mike Tauchman, they announced rookie reliever Wikelman Gonzalez also will finish the season on the injured list with an elbow impingement.
They claimed journeyman outfielder Derek Hill off waivers from Miami, where he hit .213/.275/.331 with three homers and seven stolen bases in 53 games this season.