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A wild pickoff throw costs the Chicago White Sox in a 3-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics: ‘It was just one of those days’

lamond pope, chicago tribune
·4 min read
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The Chicago White Sox ran a successful pickoff play in the first inning Thursday against the Oakland Athletics.

They were not able to duplicate it in the third.

Starter Reynaldo López threw wildly while trying to get Starling Marte at second base. The ball went to the outfield and Marte scored, giving the A’s the lead.

The A’s scored two unearned runs in the inning and beat the Sox 3-1 in front of 5,078 at Oakland Coliseum.

“I executed the first one perfectly,” López said through an interpreter. “The second one I tried to be quicker with my move, I tried to do too much, tried to get Starling there and that’s when I made a mistake. When I tried to rush, that was bad.”

López allowed three runs, one earned, on six hits and three walks in five innings, striking out two. Some days, that’s a good enough line to win.

But for the second straight game, the Sox didn’t get much going offensively as they dropped two of three in the series. A’s starter Sean Manaea allowed one run on five hits and struck out nine in seven innings.

“Most important was his command,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said of Manaea, who had one walk.

“He’s got good stuff, but he kept it out of the middle of the plate the whole game. It’s got good life, so if guys got the barrel to it, they really didn’t square many up. Give him credit.”

The Sox were without Eloy Jiménez for a second consecutive game. The left fielder is recovering from a bruised right knee suffered when getting hit by a line drive while sitting in the dugout Tuesday.

“He’s got a lot of soreness, not as sore as (Wednesday),” La Russa said before the game. “He’s telling me he thinks he should be OK by (Friday) night. We’ll see. With another full day of treatment, I think it’s possible.”

The Sox had a hole in the middle of the lineup with Jiménez out. José Abreu and Luis Robert each had two hits, but the Sox went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position. They were 1-for-10 in those situations Wednesday in a 5-1 loss.

The A’s had a runner in scoring position in the first, but López picked off Josh Harrison at second base. With the game tied 1-1 in the third, Marte singled and stole second.

Matt Olson walked with one out. López tried the pickoff move to second again, but this time it didn’t work and Marte scored while Olson advanced to third. He then scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

“We got one and the other we didn’t execute,” La Russa said. “I like the fact that we were being aggressive holding the runner back there. Quick throw got away from him.”

López bounced back from the miscue and finished his outing with two scoreless innings.

“I had to battle through a few things,” López said. “My stuff wasn’t as good as it usually is. (Thursday) was one of those days you have to battle through and I was still able to complete five innings. I made one mistake, I paid for it, but I think it was a so-so outing.

“It was just one of those days.”

López continues to be a solid contributor since getting recalled from Triple-A Charlotte. He has a 2.05 ERA while seeing time as a starter and in the bullpen. With Carlos Rodón, Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito nearing returns, López might be heading back to the bullpen.

“I feel comfortable in both roles,” he said. “I try to do my best to help the team in any capacity that they need me.

“Honestly, what matters the most for me right now is that I’m feeling good, I’m healthy and ... that’s why I’m grateful for this opportunity because I’ve been able to take advantage of it.”

The Sox weren’t able to take advantage of bringing the tying run to the plate in each of the final four innings and lost the series finale.

“We were able to prevent any more runs from scoring the second half of the game,” La Russa said. “You started to think we could maybe win it. I thought we were in a real good position to come back, and we didn’t.”