Chicago White Sox: Tony La Russa was terrible in the 10th inning

The Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians were able to make it to extra innings because Lucas Giolito and Shane Bieber were as dominant as you would expect. Getting to extras tied at zero is very rare but that can happen when there are two studs on the mound. Unfortunately for the White Sox, they were unable to snag the win in extra innings. After a thrilling walk-off victory the night before, they were unable to do the same on Tuesday.

The decision-making in the tenth inning was detrimental to the Chicago White Sox.

Tony La Russa was awful in the tenth inning. For one, Garrett Crochet probably should have come out after the one-run score but he stayed in and Cleveland made it two runs. That changed the entire outlook of the extra innings. That isn’t even the biggest mistake, however, as the White Sox have a lot of big bats that can get the job done.

For one, Nick Williams hitting in the five spots is a joke but it is even worse when he gets a tremendously important at-bat in the tenth inning. He was 0-3 on the night and has a whopping .000 batting average. It is no disrespect to him personally but he isn’t a good hitter. He should not be the guy leading off an inning that a free runner on second is given to you. Of course, he struck out.

Yasmani Grandal was in the sixth spot so he came up next. You don’t take that guy out because he is a great hitter so that makes sense. Jake Lamb, who also has yet to record a hit so far this season, was left in to hit with two outs. He did drive a ball to the warning track and make everybody hold their breath but it was caught and the game was over. Two guys with .000 batting averages were allowed to record outs in the bottom of the tenth inning.

That is unacceptable management from Tony La Russa. Guys like Leury Garcia and Andrew Vaughn were sitting there on the bench. Neither of them has had amazing starts to the season but they each provide more value than Williams or Lamb right now. Garcia is a veteran who is capable of giving a professional at bat. Vaughn is the team’s number one prospect who was literally drafted third overall for his power bat.

This was an inexcusable game by La Russa. If he keeps this up, he will be fully out of the good graces of White Sox fans. There is no time to lose with this team. When a few key players come back from injury, things will be easier for everyone but this is a big problem right now. The lineup and decision making needs to be better or it will keep costing the team games.