Thrown for a loop: Renteria forced to go to Plan B after Crochet's injury
Rick Renteria had a simple, straightforward plan on how to open his team's winner-take-all Game 3 in Oakland on Thursday.
Unfortunately, fate threw Renteria a big curveball - and it may be the biggest reason the White Sox were eliminated after losing 6-4.
Renteria gave Dane Dunning (2-0, 3.97 ERA) the start against the A's, with the understanding that if the 25-year-old ran into trouble, fireballer Garrett Crochet would immediately enter. That's exactly what transpired, and Crochet struck out Matt Olson to end a first-inning threat.
Crochet was expected to throw about 2 more innings - but he lasted just one more batter. Renteria went to the mound after noticing that the velocity had dropped on Crochet's last two pitches.
It was determined Crochet had tightness in his forearm, and he was removed from the game.
After that, Renteria wore out a path to the mound as he made seven more pitching changes. The Sox tied a major league record for most pitchers used in a playoff game at nine.
"That affected everything else as we moved along," Renteria said of Crochet's injury. "That's the way it goes. The guys gave us everything they could. ... We just fell a little short."
The Sox led 3-0 heading into a fourth inning that will be remembered for a long time.
The A's trimmed the lead to 3-2 when Sean Murphy tagged Codi Heur with a 2-run, two-out homer.
That's when Renteria made the most controversial change of the day, bringing in Carlos Rodon, who failed miserably in a relief appearance against Cleveland on September 24.
Rodon walked Tommy LaStella, then allowed a double to Marcus Semien down the left-field line. Renteria called for an intentional walk, and removed Rodon for rookie Matt Foster.
Foster had a solid season, allowing just 7 earned runs, 16 hits and 9 walks in 28.2 innings.
But the 21-year-old rookie walked the next two batters before recording the third out.
Suddenly, Oakland led 4-3 and the Sox were on their heels.
"Heur was tiring," Renteria said when asked why he brought Rodon in. "(It) gave us a chance to give (Rodon) the best matchup he could get.
"You know what? When we bring these guys in we don't go out there expecting they're gonna fail. ... Obviously (Rodon's) fastball was good, his slider was really good. And they ended up getting him. And that's it. Codi was running out of gas."
The Sox tied it 4-4 in the fifth, but Oakland scored twice off Evan Marshall in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.
Marshall retired the most hitters (6) and threw the most pitches (45) of any Sox pitcher. Heur was next with four hitters retired and 25 pitches thrown.
As for how Renteria handled the pitchers?
"I think we handled the bullpen as good as we could possibly have handled it," he said. "Today's game was a unique situation, but I'll say to you as I tell everybody - that's up to you guys to grade me. ... I don't do that with myself.
"I would in private if I think I had an issue. I leave the scrutiny, rightfully, to all of you. ...
"We beat ourselves up enough and are harder on ourselves than anybody could possibly be on us if we feel that we misstepped."