CHICAGO – It took exactly three hitters for the Mariners to take a three-run lead in their 6-5 victory over the White Sox at Rate Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Not a great start for the South Siders or starter Shane Smith, who ranked fourth among American League Rookie of the Year candidates in the first MLB.com poll this week. Actually, it was quite a bad beginning.
Close to three hours later, the White Sox had lost for the sixth time in seven games and dropped a second straight series after fighting back from the early deficit and carrying a 5-4 lead into the eighth. Credit goes to the offense, which had not exactly been operating at the highest level, with Tim Elko, Joshua Palacios and Lenyn Sosa each launching a home run.
But the contest also highlighted Smith’s special mound presence. It would have been easy for this game to go sideways on the right-hander, leading to his first off-the-mark effort out of 10 starts. Instead, he settled in, with help from pitching coach Ethan Katz’s first-inning mound visit and from catcher Matt Thaiss.
“There’s no point in looking back,” Smith said. “Especially after the first inning, it’s like, ‘All right, clean slate. You’re down 3-0, there’s nothing you can do about it now.’ In the moment, I’ve just got to make a pitch here, make a pitch here, make a pitch here and go from there.”
“He’s an unbelievable pitcher,” said shortstop Chase Meidroth, who extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 2-for-5 day. “We have all the confidence in him every time we go out there. The bats have to get going a little bit more. He did an excellent job giving us a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask from a starter.”
Seattle (28-20) opened with walks by J.P. Crawford and Jorge Polanco, followed by Julio Rodríguez’s home run to center on a 1-1 sinker in the middle of the plate. Rodríguez won Monday’s game with a grand slam, then set the tone with his Statcast-projected 401-foot blast.
Smith’s line at that point was: 0 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, and just five of 14 pitches thrown for strikes. His final line covered five innings and 87 pitches (57 strikes), with six strikeouts and no more walks. It’s just the second start all season in which Smith has allowed as many as three earned runs, although he did yield six runs – just one earned – in the second inning to the Cubs last Friday.
“Early on, it was I couldn't finish an outing. Now it's rocky starts,” Smith said. “It's just finding the middle between those two. Not putting too much stock into what you're doing.
“You can't get to the fifth inning if you don't get through the first. To have the rocky first and seconds is tough, but you just have to keep throwing. You keep throwing until they take the ball out of your hand."
Fastball command was a three-batter issue early for Smith, and Thaiss felt he was pulling off his pitches a touch. There were no signs of trouble in his pregame preparation.
“Similar as all the others, I guess. Same meeting, same routine, same everything,” Smith said. “Just maybe not awake enough for the first. Not something I can feel pregame or anything like that. But you walk the first guy and think, 'OK, lock in.' And then you walk the second guy and it's like, 'Figure something out here.' And then you go throw a fastball right down the middle."
“Obviously a big swing by Julio there,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “But after that, [Smith] did a great job getting back in the zone."
The White Sox had scored a total of 18 runs in Smith’s nine previous starts, but they held Wednesday’s advantage until Leody Taveras connected for a two-run homer off Mike Vasil with nobody out in the eighth. The loss dropped Chicago to 15-35, which was also its record 50 games into the 121-loss season of 2024.
Regardless of that eye-opening fact, the White Sox believe they are playing a better brand of baseball overall.
“We are in a lot of these games like today. We can get a couple of more hits or make a couple of more pitches and come out on top of days like today,” Thaiss said. “We want to come out with the win, but day by day, keep taking swings. And our pitching staff is great, and they are going to give us a shot to win day in and day out.”