CHICAGO -- Plenty of fans and pundits disagreed with Tony La Russa’s call for a Danny Mendick sacrifice bunt with runners on first and second, nobody out and the White Sox trailing by one run in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Tigers. That discussion continued Sunday morning.

Mendick bunted into a forceout at third, after Zack Collins tried to bunt in the previous at-bat with Jake Lamb on second but eventually drew a walk, and Chicago did not score. Those disagreements or the ensuing results won’t cause La Russa to doubt his decision.

“Trust your gut, you don’t cover your butt,” La Russa said. “You cover your butt with some of these decisions and you get beat and you’ll never know if you are good enough.

“I’m not afraid. I’ve been trained well, and I believe what I believe. Where there’s disagreement, as long as it’s somebody’s honest and fair opinion, that’s part of being in the game.”

One concrete argument against La Russa’s call was the first four hitters reaching base against reliever Derek Holland, who exited after Mendick’s bunt with a 10.05 ERA over 13 games and 14 1/3 innings. Why give up one out when there’s a chance for a bigger game-changing inning against a struggling hurler?

La Russa appreciates the lively discourse on the matter. But he won’t play down the value in his eyes of being able to steal a base or lay down a needed bunt to push across the go-ahead run, with being able to string hits together not always an easy proposition.

“You have [runners on] first and second, you’re down a run. Danny doesn’t play every day, he didn’t have a great first two at-bats and he’s an excellent executioner,” La Russa said. “I can’t believe that somebody is going to say that getting those guys to second and third with [Tim] Anderson and [Nick] Madrigal is a wasted out.

“The beautiful part about this game, there’s no sport that fans and media can be more interactive than baseball. There are more options about strategy. I never get bothered by it. I think it’s a beautiful part about our game.”

Nike City Connect jerseys a hit
Brooks Boyer, the White Sox senior vice president, chief revenue and marketing officer, used the word “unbelievable” to describe the overall response to the White Sox Nike City Connect Series uniform, which made its on-field debut with the White Sox during Saturday’s loss.

Right-handed pitcher Lucas Giolito and Anderson, two team leaders at the core of this American League Central-leading squad, had a hand in the development. Their connection made the response even more rewarding.

“The whole Change the Game [marketing campaign], we presented to TA first,” Boyer told MLB.com during a Friday interview. “And these uniforms were in that deck. Just to hear about the reactions of our players and when we did our video, our launch video, it had [Dallas] Keuchel, [Yoán] Moncada, Anderson and Lucas. I was not in the room when they all saw the unis for the first time, but apparently, the reaction was super positive.

“I was sitting at my desk last week and got a call [from the clubhouse] asking, ‘How many times are we allowed to wear these uniforms?’ I was a little gun shy, and said they can wear them how many ever times and asked, ‘Do they want to wear them?’ The response was ‘They want to wear them. They like them.’”

White Sox fans’ desire for anything related to this City Connect line has far surpassed the like level.

“It’s very fun to represent the fan base and being able to do what we are doing on the field,” Boyer said. “Everything that we do plays off the success of these guys on the field and we’ve got a fun group of guys.

“I’m heartbroken our fans can’t see Eloy [Jiménez] and Luis Robert [who are currently on the IL], because they play with so much joy. That’s kind of the uniqueness in what makes this team authentic. They are playing, this team kind of plays a kid’s game like kids.”

They said it
“Any time you can have a positive voice or presence, no matter where you’re at, whether that’s baseball or anywhere else, really, I know that that helps, especially in a team environment. That was my ultimate goal.” -- White Sox outfielder Adam Engel, who returned from the IL to make his 2021 debut Sunday