Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable admitted to making a massive gaffe in Friday's game against the Cleveland Guardians after a second mound visit in the first inning forced him to remove rookie starter Noah Schultz.
"Just an inexcusable mistake by me," Venable said postgame. "We had an appealed play that we wanted to execute, and in the urgency of trying to make that happen, just totally lost that we had visited (already), and obviously that was a mistake.
"That's on me. Just a mistake by me. One of those we gotta learn from and can't happen, but it did. So, we move on from it."
White Sox pitching coach Zach Bove had already visited Schultz earlier in the inning after the lefty allowed three of the first four batters he faced to reach base safely.
After Guardians outfielder Angel Martínez ripped a two-run single, Venable came out and crossed the foul line, constituting a mound visit. Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt argued with the umpires about the mistake, and Venable had to immediately remove Schultz from the game and summon David Sandlin from the bullpen.
Schultz, 23, allowed two runs on three hits while retiring only one batter. The southpaw now has a 6.06 ERA and 1.42 WHIP over 15 appearances this year.
Venable, in his second season as manager, has a 119-158 record but is at the helm of a surprisingly competitive White Sox club this campaign. At 59-56, Chicago leads the AL Central, two games ahead of the Guardians and Minnesota Twins.
The Guardians went on to win 8-2, with Martínez hitting a grand slam and contributing six RBIs.
(Video source: MLB.com)
