Looking to bounce back, Keuchel gets off to good start in Sox's win over Seattle
So much went right for the White Sox last season, at least until they hit the playoffs and made another early exit.
Looking back, it's almost easy to forget everything that went wrong for Dallas Keuchel.
"I felt like I was ready to go, which I was," he said. "But if I pressed the gas pedal, it was like my stuff went in reverse."
Keuchel backed up so far, he was left off the Sox's postseason roster.
After winning the Cy Young Award with the Astros in 2015 and going 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA in 2020, his first year with the White Sox, Keuchel fell to 9-9 with a 5.28 ERA last year.
The 34-year-old lefty is obviously looking for a rebound season.
"We believe it's in there," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "He feels good. He's been dealing, last year he dealt with some things physically that he certainly would not use as an excuse but I have to imagine affected his performance. He entered this season optimistic his troubles are behind him. We'll see where he goes."
Making his first start of the year against the Mariners Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field after waiting out a 47-minute rain delay, Keuchel performed about as well as can be expected in the White Sox's 6-4 win in front of a sparse, soggy crowd.
Leaning on the sinker and slider, two effective pitches in the past, Keuchel pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits. He had 5 strikeouts and didn't issue a walk while winning the 100th game of his career.
"I was just hoping to come out with a great start to the game," Keuchel said. "Any time we can have that happen, it's usually a good recipe. I'll take 5 (innings), but I'd like to go way more than that. It's kind of fitting that the 100th win comes against a team that I faced a lot over the years. I feel good."
It was a good debut after a short spring training and Keuchel said he was determined to be better even when the players were locked out.
"I wanted to get a jump-start on just throwing," he said. "I usually throw the first of January and kind of continue the program that way. I started the first week of December, just to start playing catch and feeling some stuff that I wanted to really get ahead of. So I knew right away that I was feeling a whole lot better.
"With that being said, I knew in spring training it was going to be a kind of work in progress, just because I had developed so many bad habits the second half of the year. It was hey, let's take some baby steps moving forward, and I feel good right now."
Ty France hit a solo home run off Keuchel in the first inning to give the Mariners the early lead, but he got into a groove before Seattle scored 2 runs on 3 straight hits in the fifth.
While winning their fourth straight, the White Sox scored 6 runs off Seattle starter Robbie Ray, who won the AL Cy Young with Toronto last year.
Tim Anderson sparked the outburst by going 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. Anderson, Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert all hit solo homers.
Jimenez left the game after fouling a ball off his left ankle in the third inning. X-rays were negative. Second baseman Josh Harrison exited the game in the eighth with lower back stiffness. Neither player is expected to be in the lineup vs. Seattle Thursday.