Second-guessing

The White Sox traded four young players, including starter Chris Bassitt and shortstop Marcus Semien, in December of 2014 for Jeff Samardzija. Let me repeat, Jeff Samardzija. Yesterday, Bassitt held the Sox to one run in seven-plus innings while Semien smacked a two-run homerun, and the A’s beat the Sox 5-3 to even up their wildcard series. Samardzija, who went 11-13 with a 4.96 ERA in his lone season on the South Side, was released by the Giants earlier this week. Sox manager Rick Renteria starter Edwin Encarnacion at dh yesterday. Encarnacion responded to this show of faith by going 0 for 2 with (just) one strikeout before Renteria lifted him for pinch-hitter Nomar Mazara in the seventh inning. Mazara singled. Sox manager Rick Renteria saw something in the recently returned Leury Garcia to merit a second start in the outfield, this despite Leury going 0 for 4 two with strikeouts in game one. Garcia rewarded this hunch by going 0 for 2 with (just) one strikeout before Renteria lifted him for pinch-hitter Zack Collins in the seventh inning. Collins, who hadn’t seen major-league pitching in over a month, struck out on three pitches. All I heard about the A’s was how good their bullpen is. Oakland manager Bob Melvin brought in closer Liam Hendriks with one on and nobody out in the eighth inning. Forty-nine pitches later, Hendriks had allowed the inherited runner to score, along with two of his own. I wonder if Melvin will pitch Hendriks again. I hope so.