Can Renteria get his team to Point C?
White Sox manager isn’t going anywhere, but can he regain the faith of fans?
Chicago White Sox manager Rick Renteria was asked during his postgame teleconference Thursday about “playing 3D chess” with his bullpen in Game 3 of the American League wildcard series against the Athletics in Oakland, Calif.
Having never played 3D chess, I can’t say if it’s more difficult than managing a 10-man bullpen in a nine-inning game.
But I do know it was checkmate for the Sox season when he used four relievers in the first three innings, including his starter, Dane Dunning, for all of 15 pitches in an eventual 6-4 loss. What happened?
“The reality was, believe it or not, we had talked about the potential of the scenario that came up in that (first) inning,” Renteria said. “That we were going to go to (Garrett) Crochet to get the (last) out and then send him back out for two more innings, and then just watch him and see how he was doing, try to minimize his pitch count. Obviously that was not to be.” Obviously.
Crochet’s velocity wasn’t at his usual triple-digits, and Renteria removed him after his second strikeout because of left forearm tightness, thus starting the revolving door of relievers that seemed to go in reverse order from most important to least.
Renteria said the game plan was to “potentially go with (Dylan) Cease” after Crochet, hoping the young starter who struggled with his control down the stretch could give him another couple of innings after throwing one inning in Game 2.
With closer Alex Colome slated for a two-inning outing, that would have meant in a per