Déjà vu(s)

I remember a game when Chris Sale was still with the White Sox, against the Rangers in June of 2015. Sale was vintage Sale, which meant that he was virtually untouchable. In this instance, the lanky lefty threw eight shutout innings, giving up two singles and no walks while striking out fourteen, all this on 111 pitches. The Sox went into the ninth with a 1-0 lead. Well, manager Robin Ventura decided to pull Sale for David Roberston, who proceeded to give up two runs and lose the game. The next morning, I was out walking the dog and heard a woman’s voice off in a yard somewhere. “Why did he [Ventura] do that?” the unseen fan demanded to know. “I mean, Chris Sale was pitching!” Something like that happened yesterday, only it was the Tigers’ Keider Montero pitching and manager A.J. Hinch making like Robin Ventura. Hinch opted to lift Montero after six innings of two-hit, shutout ball accomplished with a mere 65 pitches on a pleasant Sunday afternoon a little on the cool side (66 degrees). In other words, a pitcher-friendly day. But Hinch did what he did, and the Sox again did what they did on Friday night, mixing longball and smallball. First, Colson Montgomery homered off of Drew Anderson, who then gave up three straight singles to Chase Meidroth, Jacob Gonzalez (his first major-league hit in his first game) and Tristan Peters, the last one scoring the first one. Rookie reliever Tyler Davis came in to pitch the nine and recorded his first save. Sox 2 Tigers 1. I hope that Chris Sale fan, wherever she is, enjoyed the outcome nearly as much as I did.