Will Venable Has Questionable Response to White Sox Loss

The Chicago White Sox lost in frustrating fashion on Wednesday night in Houston.

Despite 5.2 scoreless innings from right-handed pitcher Davis Martin in a stellar bounce-back outing fresh off the IL, Chicago squandered multiple scoring chances and found itself in a 0–0 struggle late.

In the second inning, the White Sox had two runners on with only one out. Chase Meidroth hit a line drive to Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, who intentionally knocked the ball down instead of catching it before turning a double play. That’s illegal under Major League Baseball’s rules, but it wasn’t enforced by the umpire crew on Wednesday night and instead resulted in a lost White Sox scoring opportunity.

In the eighth, a leadoff triple by Tristan Peters looked like it might finally put the White Sox in position to get on the board and take the lead. Then, with runners on the corners and nobody out, Peters ran home on a ground ball hit directly at the shortstop and was thrown out at the plate by a wide margin.

The questionable decisions didn’t stop there.

The White Sox opted not to pinch-run for catcher Drew Romo, despite having speedsters Brenton Doyle and Luisangel Acuña on the bench who are kept on the roster largely for situations exactly like this one. Munetaka Murakami broke out of his slump and lined what should have been an RBI single into right field, but because Chicago had Romo running, the White Sox couldn’t send him home.

Miguel Vargas then grounded into a double play to end the inning.

It turned into a 2–0 White Sox loss. One that felt preventable and, ultimately, like a massive missed opportunity. The Cleveland Guardians lost on Wednesday, so the White Sox were presented with a golden opportunity to gain ground in the AL Central and start giving themselves some cushion.

Instead, silly mistakes, some by the players and some by the manager, cost them a game at a point in the season where every result could be the difference in determining their fate.

Mistakes happen. That’s baseball. It doesn’t make them any less frustrating for White Sox fans, but it’s understandable that the players and manager aren’t going to be perfect the rest of the way.

The real issue I had with Chicago’s loss on Wednesday night was Will Venable’s response to the media after the game.

Venable defended Peters and his baserunning decision in the eighth inning, saying that going home was the right move to avoid a double play. On paper, that might make some sense. But Peters clearly hesitated before running home, and the Astros didn’t have anyone covering second base to actually turn the double play.

So while going home might have been the "right baseball move" in theory, it wasn’t the right baseball play given the context of the situation. Peters ran into an out at home plate and erased Chicago’s best scoring opportunity of the night.

The more concerning response, though, came in regard to Romo.

Venable acknowledged that, looking back on it, he wished he would have pinch-run Acuña for Romo and potentially given the White Sox a better chance to score. But he explained that part of the reason he kept Romo in the game was because the catcher was working on a shutout.

Whatever that means.

Leaving your catcher in the game because of his game-calling when you’ve already pulled the starting pitcher is a questionable enough decision. It’s even harder to understand when your primary focus appears to be preserving a shutout while your own offense is also getting shut out and your best opportunity to score a run includes putting a faster baserunner into the game.

It’s decisions like this: the obsession with handedness, sticking with your catcher because he’s catching a shutout, and some of the bullpen management, that make it easy to question Venable at times.

Why is Acuña on the roster if he’s not going to be used in a situation that was tailor-made for him?

That’s ultimately what makes Wednesday night’s loss so frustrating. It’s not just that the White Sox lost. It’s that they lost while making decisions that were clearly questionable to fans watching in the moment.

And even after the game, the manager didn’t seem to fully understand why.