Killing Me Softly

White Sox starter Carlos Rodon struck out thirteen Yankees in six innings last night while walking nobody and giving up a mere two singles. But the Sox couldn’t hit, and future ex-manager Tony La Russa did what he does best, which is to leave me scratching my head in a 2-1 walk-off loss in the bottom of the ninth at Yankee Stadium. And don’t let me forget to mention the contribution of Yasmani Grandal, sent in to pinch hit in the top of the seventh inning of a scoreless tie with the go-ahead run on second base; Grandal struck out on three pitches. He would’ve been up again in the top of the ninth, only Andrew Vaughn settled things by hitting into an around-the-horn triple play. Why didn’t La Russa have Vaughn bunt? Why does La Russa rely on reliever Evan Marshall, with his 6.89 ERA, the way current ex-manager Rick Renteria did Jimmy Cordero? Marshall escaped a second-and-third, nobody-out situation in the eighth, so all of his magic dust was used up. Three straight Yankees’ singles in the bottom of the ninth pretty much proved that. But what do I know? For that matter, what does Tony La Russa know?