Pitch Count

One of my jobs as team statistician for Clare’s varsity high-school softball team was to keep a pitch count for our pitchers. If I could do that as a volunteer, why couldn’t the White Sox do the same in last night’s 4-2 loss to the Pirates? Either Sox manager Vibes Venable or bench coach Walker McKinven or pitching coach Zach Bove alone or in some combination couldn’t figure out to do that. (Hint: Just keep tab of every pitch thrown.) If they had, the Pirates might never have scored three runs in the seventh inning. Reliever Sean Newcomb had already struggled a bit in the sixth, needing a double play to keep his pitch count at seventeen. A six-pitch walk to open the seventh put it at 23. Then came a single on the first pitch followed by a single on the third pitch. By my count, that’s a 2-0 score, nobody out and Newcomb at 27 pitches. Now throw in a seven-pitch fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners, one out and Newcomb at 34 pitches. Did Venable elect to go to the pen? Nope. Konnor Griffin capped off a six-pitch at-bat with a two-run single. For those of you out there keeping count, that’s 40 pitches for Newcomb, who needed another eight to record the final two outs in the inning. So, don’t expect to see Newcomb anytime soon. And don’t expect Venable to explain why he kept his reliever in despite a growing pitch count. Oh, and don’t expect the Sox to win many games that way.