DETROIT — The “What Could Go Wrong Next?” Tour, sponsored by the Chicago White Sox, has been anything but dull as it nears its halfway point.
From the bullpen collapses to the unbridled overenthusiasm of broadcaster John Schriffen to the Pedro Grifol Watch to Paul DeJong’s “brain fart” that ended Friday’s 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, it has been one thing after another for a team on pace to smash the 1970 franchise record of 106 losses.
Like one of those bad 1980s sports flicks in which the owner intentionally tries to lose games for nefarious purposes, the 2024 White Sox seem programmed for disaster.
But Saturday was one of those rare days when everything went right.
Drew Thorpe threw six shutout innings in a 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park, earning his first major-league victory and an obligatory beer shower. DeJong drove in the first run and made a defensive gem in the eighth, Korey Lee homered in a 10-pitch at-bat and three relievers nailed down the win for Thorpe, with Michael Kopech finishing it off.
One day after DeJong forgot how many outs there were in the top of the ninth inning and got doubled off first base on a routine fly to center to end another one-run loss, the Sox sent Thorpe to the mound to try to stem the bleeding. He did exactly what the Sox needed, mixing his change effectively with his fastball to keep the Tigers off-balance. Thorpe allowed two hits while walking four and striking out five in 91-degree heat in his third start since being called up from Double-A Birmingham.
“Very impressive,” Lee said. “We all knew that his stuff played here. It was just a matter of time of him coming up here and getting comfortable, to solidify the fact it does work up here.”
Thorpe, who went 21-3 with a 2.17 in two minor-league seasons, looked about as excited after his first career win as a security guard starting the graveyard shift. But his demeanor was deceiving.
“This is me, pretty even-keeled,” he said. “I’m super calm and relaxed. That’s how I’ve always been, so …”
Sox starters have a combined 2.79 ERA with 10 quality starts over their last 15 games since June 7, though the team has won only six of those games. Saturday’s victory was much-needed after Friday’s stomach-churning loss.
“I said this last night to a couple of the guys, it was a great game and felt like a 0-0 game the entire time,” Lee said. “We didn’t feel down and came back today, did the work we needed to do. I couldn’t be happier for the guys.”
Leaving his suite after Friday’s game, one Tigers executive asked if I’d ever seen a game end on a play like that. Before I could think back on six decades of debilitating Sox losses, he was gone.
DeJong, to his credit, was standing by his locker after the gaffe, waiting to take the heat. He didn’t make any excuses, though he admitted the long review challenge “took a little bit of the rhythm out of the game for me.” Sox starter Erick Fedde said every player could relate to having a “brain fart,” though social media did its best to amplify the mistake.
“The Tigers win, and the White Sox have yet another play to typify their season,” Tigers broadcaster Jason Benetti said on his call on Bally Sports, which had over 250,000 views on @JomboyMedia as of Saturday afternoon. “Two-one, Tigers. Thank you very much. … How in the world does this happen?”
Benetti, of course, knew exactly how in the world it happened. He grew up a White Sox fan in Homewood and had seen similar things happen when he broadcast Sox games for eight seasons before leaving for the Tigers opening last winter.
On Saturday, Benetti denied he was experiencing schadenfreude on live TV, though he admitted he was happy the team that now employs him watched something bad happen to someone else following a 3-10 stretch and a couple of tough 2-1 losses to the Atlanta Braves this week.
Nothing personal, Sox fans.
“This has nothing to do with me leaving,” Benetti said of the Sox’s woes, rejecting the theory of a “Curse of Benetti.”
Benetti even ventured down to the Sox clubhouse beforehand to say hello to Grifol, PR staff members Joe Roti and Billy Russo and several players.
“We miss you,” Kopech told Benetti.
Later on, Benetti facetiously apologized to former partner Steve Stone in the media dining room for allegedly turning off the air conditioning in the Sox TV booth.
“The elderly don’t really like it when it’s too cold,” he said of Stone.
Benetti did not touch the AC, according to sources.
The wisecracking between Benetti and Stone during lulls in Sox games, a source of entertainment during particularly bad seasons in 2022 and ’23, was deemed too esoteric for Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. Humor has never been one of Reinsdorf’s defining senses.
So now we’re stuck in the middle with Schriffen, who pretends the 2024 Sox are comparable to the 1927 Yankees and uses the word “we” so often you’d think he was one of the players.
That leaves it to Stone to provide a reality check through the rest of this irritating season, which reaches the halfway point Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Sox still can salvage some good will, but only if they leave Thorpe and Jonathan Cannon in the rotation and risk them taking some bumps along the way. Greg Maddux went 6-14 with a 5.61 ERA with a last-place Cubs team during his rookie season of 1987, but Grifol said before the game no player deserves an extended look if he struggles.
The Sox have nothing left this season. Why not commit to Thorpe despite some expected turbulence
“Why not? Because this is a tough league,” Grifol replied. “And if you struggle to a point where it’s not beneficial to the club and to you as an individual, you’ve got to go make adjustments.”
Grifol listed the Tigers’ Spencer Torkelson and former Kansas City Royals stars Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon as players who once were sent back to the minors.
“The list goes on and on and on,” he said, adding, “I don’t think you can bring a player up here and say he’s going to stay here forever no matter what. That’s not realistic.”
Hopefully Thorpe can experience more outings like Saturday and stick in the majors.
In the season in which almost everything has gone wrong, it’s important to enjoy days like this.
