The Chicago White Sox had not played a game since they dropped the series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, April 17.
Three days later, in the first of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians, it showed.
The first inning for the Sox was a sign of things to come as they committed two errors on seemingly routine plays. Tim Anderson’s throw pulled Jose Abreu off the bag for the first error and then a low throw by Jake Burger that Abreu couldn’t catch on the backhand resulted in the second.
By the time the bottom of the inning was over, the Guardians were up 10-0. The Sox ended with four errors in the game en route to an 11-1 loss.
It was an ugly loss for the Sox, and one that manager Tony La Russa took all the blame for.
“So I take the heat for that,” La Russa said. “It’s a common problem when you have an off day and you have to push. We weren’t ready to play early and it’s my job to get that done.”
Dallas Keuchel, who took the loss, took some of the heat off his manager.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times' Daryl Van Schouwen, Keuchel said, “I mean, that’s just a manager kind of taking blame. I knew we were going to be in a dogfight [with Shane Bieber pitching for the Guardians]. So I tried to do the best I could. Looking back, a lot of the guys would probably say ‘I wish I could have done better’ but it is what it is. You’ve got to move on.”
MLB
After the performance, it’s fair to say there is plenty of blame to go around. For a team as good as the Sox, playing sloppy defense and giving an opponent extra outs is going to come back to bite you more often than not.
Game 2 provides another opportunity for La Russa to get his team ready to play and for the Sox to earn a split in the doubleheader.