The White Sox were going to need All-Star Shane Smith at his best.
After using seven relievers against the Rays in Wednesday’s victory, the Sox’ bullpen wasn’t depleted — but with six games in a row starting Friday against the Guardians — manager Will Venable said he would prefer not to have to dig deep into the bullpen.
Smith abided by Venable’s wishes, throwing 5⅔ scoreless innings, striking out four and walking one batter in the Sox’s 5-1 victory against the Rays to take their third consecutive series victory. The Sox are 25-25 since the All-Star break and the team’s confidence is growing.
“There’s a lot of belief,” said second baseman Chase Meidroth, who was 2-for-2 at the plate with two walks. “Every time we show up, it’s ‘Hey, we are going to win today.’ Every time we step in here, it’s a winning atmosphere. We’re coming here to win a baseball game. Everyone in here believes in the next guy and the confidence in each other is huge in this game.”
Venable said Meidroth set the tone for the team with his swing decisions and quality at-bats. But the team knows that when they have Smith on the mound, they have to take advantage.
“Every time he’s on the mound, we should win,” Meidroth said. “He’s a No. 1 [starter] in this league.”
Smith is ending his rookie season strong after experiencing some turbulence to close out the first half. Smith had a rough July, the worst month of his otherwise productive rookie season. He was inefficient and frequently had short starts. But in the second half, Smith has righted the ship, sporting a 2.84 ERA since the All-Star break.
“To start out so well and in the middle of the year [have to] find himself again, and to finish strong here, he’s somebody who finds ways to be effective even when he doesn’t have his best stuff,” Venable said.
The Sox (57-90) have to be pleased that Smith found his stride despite pitching a career high in innings. The Rays loaded the lineup with lefties against Smith, and he handled them by relying on his four-seamer, which sat at 96.2 mph. He threw 50 fastballs and incorporated his sinker heavily to give the Rays another fastball that wasn’t the four-seamer. Smith took pride in going into the sixth inning.
“The bullpen’s been working their tail off, especially the last 10, 11 games,” Smith said. “All the starters want to go six-plus every single time.”
In the sixth, Smith allowed a single to Chandler Simpson and walked Brandon Lowe. With runners on, the Rays had All-Star slugger Junior Caminero at the plate. Smith was aggressive with his fastball, staying on the attack against the slugger, inducing a double play to get two quick outs. Lefty Tyler Gilbert relieved Smith and got the final out of the inning.
“Make [Caminero] put something in the ground because if he puts something in the air, he hits it so hard it’s always dangerous,” Smith said of his approach.
Going 6-9 over their next 15 games would allow the Sox to avoid a 100-loss season for a third consecutive season. The players say they’re not focused on avoiding 100 losses but just their continued improvement.
“We’re coming out ready to play from the get-go,” Smith said. “Our offense is putting up a lot of runs in the first inning as of late, we’re staying on the attack. Testament to the guys taking each pitch, bullpen’s been great, starters doing a pretty good job.”