There's an old saw about the Chevy Nova failing to sell in Spanish-speaking countries during the 1970s because "nova" could theoretically be interpreted in those lands as "doesn't go."
There's no truth to it, but it still came to mind while watching Iván Nova throw his third ugly outing in five tries with the White Sox.
Nova faced constant pressure tonight in Camden Yards. He gave up a deep drive to the track for the third out in the first, then started a 1-2-3 double play to limit the damage to an unearned run in the second.
Instead of finding his footing, he plummeted to his doom. The Orioles smoked him for four homers over the third and fourth innings. Renato Nunez crushed an 0-1 changeup well out to left, and Chris Davis redirected a high fastball out to left center to make it 4-0.
An inning later, Dwight Smith got around on an inner-half fastball and sent a towering three-run blast just over the scoreboard in right, and Joey Rickard similarly pulled a seventh-pitch fastball to the left field corner for a two-run shot.
Nova gave up nine runs on 11 hits and three walks over four innings, throwing just 54 of his 88 pitches for strikes. He spent a fair amount of time up in the zone, and the Orioles made him pay for it. He got only eight swinging strikes on 88 pitches, and just two of them on 46 fastballs.
The White Sox couldn't summon the same kind of results against Andrew Cashner, although Baltimore's defense had a lot to do with it, because the Sox made hard contact early. Rickie Martin made a diving stop on Yonder Alonso's one-hopper right of second base, Smith robbed Adam Engel of a sorely needed homer in the second, and Trey Mancini made a leaping catch to take extra bases away from Jose Abreu in the gap in the third.
So once again, the White Sox failed to score on their first times through the order against a starter, but this time it wasn't for a lack of trying. Not only did the Sox hit the ball hard, but Rick Renteria put Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson at the top of the lineup.
Nevertheless, the White Sox scored their only run when facing Cashner a third time. Moncada started the sixth by registering the team's first triple of 2019, slashing it over first base and into the right field corner. He scored on Anderson's opposite-field single to make it a 9-1 game.
Alas, that's where the score stayed. The Sox only had five opportunities with runners in scoring position thanks in part to three double plays. Cashner threw seven innings, the first Baltimore starter to do so this season.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox bullpen threw a hitless four innings. Carson Fulmer struggled, retiring only half the batters he faced. He walked one, hit another, and threw only 10 of 19 pitches for strikes. Josh Osich cleaned up his mess, threw a scoreless sixth and got into the seventh as well.
*Engel committed his second error of the season when he airmailed a throw to third into the dugout, allowing Jonathan Villar to score on the two-base error. Making matters worse, Villar was already heading back to second when Engel let 'er rip.
*Moncada's return to the leadoff spot was a successful one, as he went 2-for-4 with no strikeouts.
Record: 9-13 | Box score | Highlights
