Dallas Keuchel was in a unique situation on Sunday. Saturday’s game was delayed in the third inning due to rain so Kuechel was called upon to take the ball the next day when play resumed. It marked his first relief appearance since August 6th, 2013 in Boston for the Houston Astros.
Keuchel was the regularly scheduled starter for Sunday’s game but when it was announced that the White Sox would have to play the remaining six innings of Saturday’s contest then play a seven-inning game afterward, manager Tony La Russa decided to use Keuchel for the resumption of Saturday’s game.
“We spent some time going through all the different alternatives,” La Russa said. “One of the things we looked at was this is Dallas’ day to start, if he does his usual game, that takes us deep into the first one and you play the second one depending on what happened in the first one.”
With the White Sox scheduled to play two games Sunday, Keuchel’s task out of the bullpen was simple. Eat innings. He did just that throwing five innings, allowing two runs on six hits. Keuchel struck out four and walked two. Overall, Keuchel limited damage and worked around some traffic to keep the White Sox in the game.
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— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 27, 2021
Heading into the ninth inning he was sitting on 87 pitches with two lefties due up. Those two lefties were Taylor Trammell and Jake Fraley. Fraley was 0-for-2 against Keuchel including getting caught looking for a strikeout in the fifth inning. Trammell homered off of Keuchel earlier in the game but Keuchel responded by striking him out in his next at-bat. The only righty that was due up was Luis Torrens who was also 0-for-2 against the southpaw on the day. Keuchel got Torrens to go down swinging in the sixth inning.
But instead of letting Keuchel ride it out in the ninth, manager Tony La Russa opted to go with his closer, Liam Hendriks. This decision did not thrill Keuchel, especially with the lefties slated up for the Mariners in the ninth. He voiced his displeasure after the game.
“Would have liked to have gone that ninth inning,” Keuchel said. “I thought at this time in my tenure here, I thought I deserved it.”
Keuchel is in his second season with the White Sox. In the 2020 season, he posted a 1.99 ERA which was the third-best in the MLB. He also finished fifth in the Cy Young voting.
Hendriks retired the first two hitters then allowed a go-ahead home run to Taylor Trammell that cost the White Sox the game. Obviously, hindsight is 20-20 but it was an interesting move to put Hendriks into the game considering La Russa has been hesitant to use his closer in non-save situations.
But with the score tied in the ninth Hendriks was not going to have an opportunity for a save situation. Hendriks has been money for the White Sox all season so, the thought process was that he would keep the score tied and allow the offense an opportunity to win it in the bottom of the ninth. It did not work out as planned.
