Rain not such a bad deal for Sale, White Sox
The White Sox always seem to be looking for a break this season, whether it be from the injury bug, the weather or the umpires.
On Tuesday, they caught one, courtesy of Mother Nature.
Heavy rains and lightning descended on the South Side with the Sox trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning.
The interleague game was postponed, and no makeup date has been announced.
Had the game been suspended due to unplayable conditions — and mini lakes were forming in the U.S. Cellular Field outfield — the game eventually would have been picked up in the third with the Cubs holding the lead.
White Sox manager Robin Ventura said suspending play was never discussed.
Chris Sale took the mound for the Sox after being skipped in his last start due to shoulder tendinitis.
In the second inning, the Cubs went ahead when Scott Hairston doubled with one out and Welington Castillo followed with a home run.
That appeared to end Sale’s streak of 24 consecutive scoreless innings, but all of the stats are wiped out.
Following the abbreviated outing, Sale said he felt good.
“My arm felt strong,” he said. “It felt good. Those guys back there (trainers) know what they’re doing. I was just going through some different things and throwing and felt fine tonight.”
Pitching coach Don Cooper said Sale might make his next start Saturday, a day earlier than scheduled.
“The benefit is we know that he’s OK right now,” Cooper said. “He got through the outing. And we’re going to sit on it and think on it until we bring him back Saturday or his normal day, Sunday. We haven’t decided that. We’re going to talk about it more.
“It’s not like we gain anything by bringing him back (early) because he’ll have the same amount of starts prior to our next off-day (June 13).”
Sale didn’t sound too concerned about when he pitches next.
“I pretty much look at this as an extended bullpen,” he said. “I don’t think I threw more than 40 pitches. I should be able to bounce back pretty quick.”
As for the offense, the White Sox had better start hitting soon or first-year general manager Rick Hahn is likely to veer away from his patient approach.
The Sox rank last in the American League with 121 walks, 177 runs scored and a .293 on-base percentage.
Their collective impatient approach is making it easy for opposing pitchers to have easy outings.
“I don’t think everybody is that way,” Ventura said of his hitters. “Some people don’t have quite the patience that other people do, and I think that comes with confidence in the way you’re swinging.
“When guys are confident, you’re just more patient. The better people are the more patient they can be.”
Adam Dunn and Jeff Keppinger have taken the lion’s share of the blame for the Sox’ slow offensive start, but don’t forget about Alejandro De Aza. Last year the leadoff man always seemed to be in the middle of big offensive rallies.
This year De Aza is batting .243 with a sickly .286 on-base percentage. Not surprisingly, he has drawn just 12 walks in 185 at-bats while striking out 54 times.
“I would like it not to be as high as it is,” manager Robin Ventura said of De Aza’s strikeout total. “I don’t know if him having the few home runs (7) early has led to this. He knows it needs to cut down. He needs to keep some balls more on the ground than in the air.”
sgregor@dailyherald.com