ANAHEIM – White Sox center-back Luis Robert made a fun, painful and costly throat in the third inning of Saturday’s game against the Angels as he tried to catch a shallow volley from Anthony Rendon’s bat. just because he bounces his head for a punctuation error.
Luckily, Robert was physically fit and even drove in a race the next inning with an RBI single to tie the game. But the play ended up costing the White Sox two runs in the box and came with an eventual 5-3 defeat that saw the Angels score three times in the eighth. It was a memorable mistake for all the wrong reasons, as the ball bounced off his head drastically and there were also two exits in the third, so a catch would have ended the threat.
Tim Anderson, first in the field, backed away in an attempt to make the catch, but Robert ran 134 feet from his place on the outside field, seeming to call off Anderson and put himself in the position of doing the routine. The play had a 95% chance of capture, according to Statcast. Tony La Russa, manager of the White Sox, however, thought Robert might have had problems with the twilight sky at Angel Stadium.
“I think that happens, before it gets dark, it happens all over the league,” La Russa said. “I think today’s match between Tim and Luis, [Luis] he’s playing hard, he had a long way to go. It’s a Gold Glover, you have to run 200 meters to get there, I’m exaggerating, but it was a long way. At dusk, it’s hard anywhere. “
However, Robert’s falsehood was not the end of the madness. Right-back Adam Eaton snatched the ball and tried to catch David Fletcher as he ran home all the way from the first moment, but the shot was off target and bounced off the mound, bouncing back. Rendon advanced to second base by mistake and Jared Walsh followed with a simple RBI to score Rendon, giving right-hander Lance Lynn two runs not won at the entrance.
Lynn, however, said it was only part of the game and she was not frustrated with Robert.
“Your job is to pick up the guys,” Lynn said. “They pick you up when you have bad games, they mark your careers and they make fantastic plays for you. This game is nasty. So there’s no guilt, nothing, it’s just about making the next release, and that’s the truth. You can’t worry about what happened before, because it doesn’t matter and you have to make the next release. Unfortunately, I made a mistake with the next batter, and he was able to shoot one through the six hole there. But I have to make my throw and I have to get out of it. That ‘s my job. “
Angels coach Joe Maddon was impressed by Fletcher’s instincts to score from the first moment and noted that play was another reason to put the ball into play is better than an attack.
“How’s the baserunner marker?” Maddon said. “When David came in, I told him not everyone scores on that. I wanted him to know. So I want to give him credit too. And yeah, move the ball, move the ball. Make the defense run, so they can run themselves. ‘- Coach Ed Morgan. Hazleton High School, 1972. “