At least Nick Nastrini had fun.
Nastrini's major-league debut wasn't everything he hoped it would be, because the White Sox were shut out for the sixth time in 16 games, so he was in line for the loss as soon as Vinnie Pasquantino broke up the perfect game bid with a solo shot in the fourth inning. Set aside the factors he can't control, and he pitched five strong innings, attacking the strike zone and showing how his pitch mix can retire MLB hitters.
Also, he exited his first start with a 3.60 ERA instead of an 11.57 ERA, and the latter could've been the case watching the ball leave Bobby Witt Jr.'s bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth. Fortunately, it died in Dominic Fletcher's glove on the warning track in left center, so he could say he pitched well enough for most teams to win.
The White Sox are not most teams. Instead, they became the first team since the 1907 Brooklyn Superbas to be shut out six times in their first 17 games, and because they're generous in spirit, they've allocated one shutout for each of the six series they've played thus far.
Seth Lugo and two Royals relievers limited the Sox to four singles, and a walk, which generated just two at-bats with runners in scoring position. Both came in the fifth, when Braden Shewmake led off with a single and stole second on a Martín Maldonado strike three swinging, but Nicky Lopez and Robbie Grossman both flied out, and the Sox didn't have another chance the rest of the game.
Andrew Benintendi continued showing signs of a pulse with a couple of singles, but Andrew Vaughn is doing what he can to wrestle the crown of Toughest Andrew to Watch by going a particularly ugly 0-for-4. He generated four outs on five pitches over his first three at-bats, then struck out on three pitches in the ninth.
That brought Gavin Sheets to the plate as the last hope, and while he got plunked to keep the game alive, that brought Lenyn Sosa to the plate. Pedro Grifol chose to pinch-hit with Eloy Jiménez, a seemingly suboptimal time to face real pitching for the first time in two weeks. Jiménez struck out on four pitches to end the game.
But back to Nastrini, his fastball hit 95 and averaged 93-94, getting five whiffs and a fair amount of routine fly balls. It was also effective in setting up his slider. He retired the first 11 batters he faced before Pasquantino took him deep.
He did leave some room for improvement. His changeup was the weak link. An elevated change was good enough to get Witt whiffing for Nastrini's first career strikeout, but another changeup floated high enough for Kyle Isbel to wait back and punch it through the hole in the left side for an RBI single that made it 2-0 in the fifth. His control of everything started to waver during a 27-pitch fifth inning, but that's better than throwing 27 pitches in the first. It was a job well done. Perhaps one day it'll be a job good enough for this offense.
Bullet points:
*Nastrini said that pneumonia was the illness that set him back between spring training and the regular season. His stuff looked like it should, but he still has some stamina-building to do.
*Dominic Leone, Jordan Leasure, Steven Wilson and Michael Kopech each threw scoreless innings, although Wilson walked a pair under the immense pressure from James' post.
