Blame Pedro Grifol for the latest Chicago White Sox defeat
The White Sox blew a 5-2 lead because of a couple bad bullpen decisions made by the manager.
The Chicago White Sox managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Tuesday night.
Up 5-2 as they headed into the bottom of the eighth, the bullpen collapsed as Michael Kopech and Steven Wilson gave up four runs over two innings to allow the Minnesota Twins to escape with a 6-5 victory.
You can blame manager Pedro Grifol for that.
For some reason, he felt compelled to give Kopech a shot at a six-out save. When Kopech gave up two runs in the eighth he scraped that idea and went with Wilson in the ninth. He chose to go with his closer in the eighth and his setup man in the ninth. Somehow someone needs to make that make sense.
Pedro Grifol said Michael Kopech would have gone for the two-inning save if he had a smoother eighth.
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) April 24, 2024
But the Sox manager said he wanted Kopech facing the top of the Twins order, and liked Steven Wilson to face Byron Buxton.
Anyone with historical knowledge of how Bryon Buxton destroys the White Sox would have liked to have seen Wilson bounce four balls into the dirt to see if he would chase something. Otherwise, put him on first and go for the double play.
To be fair to Grifol, he was not the one actually throwing out there. Kopech and Wilson have to execute and do their jobs of getting outs. At the same time, Grifol has to be the one who puts them in a position to succeed.
Worst loss of the year.
— Ryan McGuffey (@RyanMcGuffey) April 24, 2024
Tell me managers don’t matter.
Yes, players need to execute, but a manager’s job is to put his players in the best position to succeed, and he failed….period.
3-20. #WhiteSox
At some point, Grifol or pitching coach Ethan Katz has to get throw to Kopech to mix in his slider more. Yes, it is fun to see Kopech out there throwing 100mph four-seam fastballs. If he misses a spot or if it is 97mph like what happened a few times last night, it is a hit or walk.
Also, Grifol has to realize some people are eighth-inning pitchers and some are closers. Wilson is clearly a setup man. He should have had the eighth or Grifol should have stuck with Kopech to get three more outs.
Instead, the Sox are dubiously in company with the 2003 Detroit Tigers as our counterparts pointed out last night...
ONE team in MLB history has started out worse than the White Sox at 3-20:
— South Side Sox (@SouthSideSox) April 24, 2024
1988 Orioles (1-22)
Just three teams have started out as bad:
2022 Reds
2003 Tigers
1936 Browns
That's it.
In 124 seasons.
(pre-modern, & worst-ever, 1899 Spiders also 3-20)#BetterAtTheBallpark
The Sox cannot blow rare opportunities to win.
Especially since Erick Fedde was dominant on the mound. The starter gave up one run over six innings and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Even Eloy Jimenez spotted the Sox a 3-1 lead with a home run.
Even Andrew Benintendi contributed something when he had a two-out, two-RBI hit in the top of the eighth. He also added to the loss in the ninth when he misplayed a fly ball that led to a double and allowed Carlos Santana, who was at first after taking a walk, to get to third, and eventually a pinch runner came home for a walk-off win.
Pedro explained Benintendi was playing deep to prevent any doubles. The problem was Andrew misjudged the ball coming off the bat and took a step back before realizing the ball was going towards the foul line and was not hit that hard.
Chances to win for the White Sox are rare these days like Halley's Comet passing by Earth.
It means the Sox have no margin for error and have to do everything right in the margins to win. The manager cannot make bad bullpen decisions. Grifol made two horrible decisions and it is why the White Sox have another loss in the standings.
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