Old School

Did I mention Tiger Stadium? Chicago baseball yesterday was filled with old-school echoes of pitching battles and late-inning heartbreak. Ironically, it was the Cubs who suffered heartbreak at home while the White Sox triumphed in Detroit. With Mike Clevinger leading the way, no less. Clevinger went seven scoreless innings, picking up the win in a 6-0 victory. The Sox didn’t get their first hit against rookie Reese Olson—who held them hitless over five innings in his major-league debut back in June, BTW—until one out in the seventh, when Luis Robert Jr. doubled down the left-field line. One out later, Yoan Moncada (!!!) homered. The Sox then added a four-sport in the eighth. Clevinger gave up three hits while striking out seven and walking no one, all this on ninety pitches. Over at Wrigley Field, the Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen needed 107 pitches to record a 1-0 complete-game shutout against the host Cubs. James Taillon started for the North Siders, throwing six scoreless innings himself on seventy-seven pitches. Even though Taillon yielded a mere single and a walk while striking out nine, manager David Ross opted to go to his bullpen in the seventh inning. That was a new-school move, possibly motivated by the fact batters hit Taillon at a .300 clip the third time around. In which case, Ross let numbers on a page overrule what he should’ve seen right in front of him, a pitcher dominating the opposition. His starter goes one more inning, then his bullpen has one less inning to cover, and so on after that. Instead, Ross used four relievers. Going into games three and four at Wrigley, advantage Arizona. If they split, that leaves them two behind the Cubs for the second wildcard spot. If the D-backs sweep, they’re tied. That possibility looms on account of some smart, old-school baseball.