Good thing Pedro Grifol said Nick Nastrini wasn't going to be one-and-done in the White Sox rotation, because tonight would be the the kind of start to instill doubt about his staying power.
Nastrini's return to the big leagues wasn't what anybody wanted, at least in the even-numbered innings. After a relatively easy 1-2-3 first, a seven-run second inning got away from him. He pitched around a leadoff walk in the third, then only retired one of the five batters he faced in the fourth before Pedro Grifol mercifully pulled the plug.
The result was a line you don't often see: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 6 BB, 0 K, 1 HR.
Just about everything went wrong for Nastrini. He got into ruts spraying his fastball, even his best sliders to right-handed hitters were put into play for singles, and the Blue Jays seemed onto his offspeed usage, too. Three of their six hits in the second inning came on the second of consecutive changeups.
All in all, it was the kind of performance where you might expect to hear suggestions of tipping afterward, as he left the mound without striking out any of the 23 batters he faced. Tanner Banks then added insult to injury by taking over and starting his relief outing with four strikeouts.
The best thing you could say about the White Sox's effort tonight is that they weren't shut out. They came close, but Tommy Pham greeted Genesis Cabrera with a solo shot to right field in the top of the eighth, and Nicky Lopez reached on an error and scored on a Paul DeJong sac fly.
They couldn't scratch anything across the plate against Chris Bassitt over the first seven innings. To the extent the strategy of stacking lefties against Bassitt succeeded, it was immediately undone by having DeJong in the cleanup spot. He grounded into a double play in the first, flared out to third with the bases loaded and one out in the third, then grounded into another double play in the sixth.
The top of the order -- Pham, Lopez and Gavin Sheets -- reached base two times apiece. The rest of the lineup went 1-for-21 with two walks. Zach Remillard had the lone hit, and one of the walks.
Bullet points:
*Thanks to Sox Machine Veterans Committee member Ryan for running the Stathead search and seeing that the last pitcher to allow hits, runs, walks, and strikeouts in those amounts was Brandon Backe in 2008.
*Dominic Fletcher was charged with a throwing error for a high-risk, low-reward throw to third base, which allowed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to get up and scamper home for the unearned run in the fourth inning.
*Zach DeLoach went 0-for-3 in his MLB debut, but he did draw a walk with two outs in the ninth to reach base.
*Martín Maldonado went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, so his average is down to .089, and his OPS to .292.
