ST. LOUIS — For 16 outs Sunday, White Sox right-hander David Sandlin’s return from Triple-A Charlotte was going perfectly.
‘‘He just was in complete control,’’ catcher Kyle Teel said. ‘‘You could see it in his eyes.’’
Shielding his vulnerable four-seam fastball behind a seven-pitch mix, Sandlin looked like a solution to the Sox’ shortage of starting pitching.
Before he could reach 18 outs, however, two soft singles broke up Sandlin’s perfect game and Colson Montgomery couldn’t keep hold of a 103.6 mph grounder by the Cardinals’ Ivan Herrera. Then RBI machine Alec Burleson fought off a fastball from left-handed reliever Chris Murphy on his hands for the decisive bases-clearing double in the Sox’ 3-1 loss.
‘‘Should’ve have gone six [innings] and given the team a better chance,’’ said Sandlin, who fell one out short of that and was in no mood to romanticize one of the best outings of his career. ‘‘We lost. It sucks. That’s all that I’m worried about.’’
Manager Will Venable had no regrets about going to the bullpen for a left-on-left matchup rather than letting Sandlin face Burleson for a third time. Montgomery had given himself a chance at Herrera’s grounder by shading toward second but was screened by the baserunner.
‘‘Stuff happens like that,’’ said Montgomery, who also fouled back a meaty heater by Cardinals reliever George Soriano before flying out with the bases loaded to end the game. ‘‘You just have to make that play.’’
A fruitless attempt at a rally in the ninth capped an 0-for-7 showing with runners in scoring position for the Sox, highlighted by a leadoff triple by Sam Antonacci in the sixth going to waste. He eventually was caught in a rundown trying to save Munetaka Murakami’s bouncer to first from becoming an inning-ending double play.
‘‘That kind of snowballed as far as the spirit of the club, and [we] didn’t really recover after that,’’ Venable said.
The recovery will have to come in Cleveland, with the Sox clinging to a half-game lead over the Guardians in the American League Central.
Why don’t Sox starters go deep?
Because of the Sox’ use of openers and 21 consecutive games now without one of their starters completing six innings, their rotation has logged the fewest innings in the majors.
Venable has preached flexible usage all season and will deploy relievers even more aggressively down the stretch. But the ebb in starter innings goes further. Triple-A lefty Shane Murphy is the only Sox minor-leaguer who will pitch more than 130 innings in 2026.
Senior adviser to pitching Brian Bannister said innings restrictions usually are dictated by the medical staff and aren’t reflections of strategy. But he also thinks the game has evolved away from long outings in two ways. The first is the pitch clock, which reduces the opportunity for pitchers to catch their breath. The second feels more intractable in this age of efficiency.
‘‘You’re going out [and] leveraging your best stuff for as long as you possibly can and then handing the baton to the next guy,’’ Bannister said. ‘‘Literally pitching at max effort on almost every pitch, just to beat these hitters who are out there training on Trajekt machines and know everything about you down to the smallest detail. It just requires a ton of stuff.’’
Bases loaded with dread
The Sox batted with the bases loaded 17 times in their last 14 games (4-10 record) and were 1-for-13 with four walks.