Keuchel 'bringing up the rear' in White Sox's rotation
After lasting just 1 inning Friday night - the shortest start of his career - Dallas Keuchel waited a day before speaking to the media.
"Getting a little time to decompress always helps out," the White Sox's 33-year-old lefty said Saturday.
Reflecting on his outing against the Cubs and his season in general, Keuchel looked in the mirror and offered a blunt assessment.
"I'm open and honest with everything that I say and do," he said. "And shoot, I've been probably - not probably - I have been the weakest starter in the rotation for much of the year. That just speaks volumes to the advancement of (Dylan) Cease and (Carlos) Rodon being the guy that everybody expected him to be. (Lucas) Giolito and (Lance) Lynn have been themselves and it's just me kind of bringing up the rear."
With the playoffs coming into view, Keuchel understands he is 1-4 with a 6.86 ERA in 8 starts since the all-star break.
The Sox only need four starters for the postseason and Keuchel (8-7, 5.00 ERA for the year) currently sits on the outside looking in.
"Of course, I think about it," he said. "It's what everybody plays for. Once you get a taste of the postseason that's all you want to do from there on out. So I've definitely thought about it, but letting myself get rolled up into that idea is the worst of my worries right now. I've just got to make sure that I'm myself come Oct. 3, the last game of the year, and whatever happens happens.
"But I've always been a team-first guy. So if it doesn't work out, I'm going to be as mad as whoever else isn't on it. But at the same time, if you're not getting the job done, you don't expect a spot if you're not putting up the numbers and doing your job."
In the second season of a three-year, $55 million contract that includes a club/vesting option for 2023, Keuchel said he is healthy. As was evident Friday while giving up 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits and 1 walk in 1 inning against the Cubs, Keuchel's usually sharp cutters and sinkers have been hanging in the zone.
"The home runs have been kind of my death wish this year, more so than any other year I've been pitching," Keuchel said as he nears the end of his 10th season. "I have to make better pitches and watched a little bit of the film. It was kind of enlightening. My lack of two-seam command down and away to righties has been hindering my ability pretty much for the whole season.
"I've been searching for that for a lot of the time. One game it will be there, one game it won't be there. That's really my biggest handicap right now is the fact that I'm not consistently hitting that low and away two-seam fastball."
See the light:
One of the worst starting pitchers in baseball last season with a 1-3 record and 6.49 ERA, right-hander Reynaldo Lopez had surgery on both of his corneas in early May to correct a blurred vision issue.
His numbers this year - Lopez is 3-1 with a 1.59 ERA after pitching 5 perfect innings of relief against the Cubs Friday - are telling.
"It was something that was affecting me because sometimes I couldn't see the signs and then most of the time I wasn't sure about what pitch the catcher was calling," Lopez said through a translator. "Then sometimes I threw pitches with not a lot of conviction and that was where the problem began. Once they performed surgery, I gained confidence in all my pitches because I was seeing the pitch that the catcher was calling.
"That gave me more confidence in my stuff and my pitches because I was able to execute it with confidence. That was basically the big difference."
Robert rests:
Reinstated on Aug. 9 after missing over three months with a torn right hip flexor, Luis Robert got the night off Saturday as the White Sox ease the center fielder back into regular play.
Hitting .375 with 5 doubles, 3 home runs and 10 RBI in 15 games since coming back, Robert is due back in the lineup Sunday.