The Chicago White Sox lost a brutal game on Monday night and a few people are to blame for it. There are two specific people that deserve to take the brunt of the blame after this one. Lance Lynn and Tony La Russa are the two guys.
Lance Lynn gave up five runs in the first inning to the Cleveland Guardians. It is hard to win a game when you spot the opponent a 5-0 lead after one inning. From there, it was always going to be hard to win the game.
The White Sox did a good job of not giving up here though. Yoan Moncada hit a three-run home run to get them back in it. Eventually, they got the score back to 5-4 and looked like a team poised to have a comeback win.
In the fifth inning, however, Tony La Russa was back to his old tricks. Lance Lynn (as a result of the bad first inning) had a high pitch count early. It was obvious that he was going to be taken out a lot sooner than he wanted.
Multiple people allowed the Chicago White Sox to lose Monday night’s game.
Going into that fifth inning, Lance Lynn had 90 pitches under his belt. He allowed a hit and then hit a batter so runners were on first and second. Instead of coming to get him just shy of 100 pitches, Tony La Russa let him face the next batter in Nolan Jones.
Jones hit a double and another two runs came to score for the Guardians. They would add one more and make it 8-4. It was obvious that the White Sox wouldn’t score four unanswered runs again in the game. Tony La Russa allowed Lance Lynn to stay out there way too long.
The Cleveland Guardians, unlike the Chicago White Sox, have a good manager. Terry Francona literally did the exact opposite an inning later. When Guardians starter Cal Quantrill gave up two hits to start a later inning, Francona went to his bullpen who got them out of a jam.
It is a shame that we keep seeing the manager cause the team wins but it has been happening for over a year now. If this keeps up, they aren’t going to the playoffs. Now, the Guardians will host the White Sox for a doubleheader on Tuesday where the White Sox need to take at least one.