Chicago White Sox: Contested Call Ruins Pitchers’ Duel

Apr 17, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Chicago White Sox right fielder Avisail Garcia (26) receives congratulations from teammates after he hits a home run in the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to the White Sox vs. Tigers recap/preview extravaganza. (I did not have time to do a proper preview so bear with me.)

I’ll start with a recap of Game 1 and then we’ll get into the rest of the weekend series preview.

As I started writing this, shortstop Alexei Ramirez fielded Avisail Garcia’s throw from right field, which beat Nick Castellanos to second.

At least from the replays I saw, SOMEHOW, Ramirez did not tag him. I just do not get it. Outside of Gordon Beckham’s outstanding performance defensively today, this White Sox team has failed to make key defensive plays when it matters, and today it cost them the game.

What is even more frustrating about this is that Ramirez is a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop. He cannot just expect the umpire to give him the benefit of the doubt just because the ball beat the runner to the bag.

Reach over. Tag the runner. Get out of the terrible start to the inning. Ramirez doesn’t and it ends up costing the White Sox Jeff Samardzjia’s best start of the season in a tightly contested pitchers’ duel against David Price. One last thing. How does Robin Ventura not challenge that? You can’t take the challenges home with you Robin!

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More on Shark … he looked stronger as the game went on, following the same script as his last time out against the Minnesota Twins.

Samardzija had to deal with adversity early, but from what I saw toward the end of the game, he just kept pumping in his fastball and looked really impressive spotting his control and getting eight strikeouts. Shark epitomized the phrase “scattering hits” today by giving up eight but pitching around them.

What can we expect tomorrow?

Apr 12, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) throws against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Well, our ace Chris Sale on the bump, a White Sox team still looking to explode offensively and a team that should be hungry and mad after not providing any run support to the best start by a starter so far. I think we get it done against Anibal Sanchez. Sale usually fares well against the Tigers’ lineup outside of Victor Martinez, who is still injured, so I’ll conservatively expect a no-hitter tomorrow.

Looking onto Sunday, we have the second of our three southpaws in Jose Quintana going against Shane Greene, who has looked very impressive with the Tigers thus far in the early season. Look for our boys to make him work and get him out of the game early to prevent another eight-inning outing from the Tigers’ righty.

Also not to be lost in the game today was Adam Eaton having a two-hit day and almost a three-hit day, had it not been for Price’s great defensive play. Also, Garcia has been hitting great lately. The offense will come. We just have to give it some time.

Our ace is on the hill tomorrow. Let’s get some strikeouts, a lot of runs and a W for him.