Grfiol Defends Questionable Bullpen Moves After White Sox Loss

It’s only the second game of the season, but it’s never too early to question managerial decisions. Pedro Grifol found that out the hard way on Friday night as fans torched some of his in-game moves en route to the first loss of his career. The White Sox threw away a 3-0 lead which eventually flipped into a 6-3 defeat to the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Two key bullpen moves late in the game backfired on the first-year manager, which ultimately lost his team the lead.

The baseball season is a 162-game marathon. Losses were bound to happen, and there will be plenty more as the season drags along. But while bringing in Jake Diekman with the bases loaded raised some eyebrows, the effort was there for Pedro Grifol’s squad.

“Everyone is playing hard, and that’s all you ask,” Lance Lynn said after allowing two runs in 5 2/3 inning with six strikeouts and four walks.”

There is no doubt that this team is playing with passion and energy. Perhaps none more so than the big right-hander from Indiana. Lynn had some issues with command and home plate umpires Rob Drake’s strike zone. He was able to grind his way through five innings, but the pitch count eventually started to pile up due to all the traffic he had to work around. However, despite the struggles, Lynn did come up with some big pitches when he needed them, and his primal scream after strikeouts were back in full force.

After keeping the Astros off the scoreboard for 5 2/3 innings, he yielded a single to his former teammate Jose Abreu. This gave Kyle Tucker an opportunity to hit with two outs, and he took advantage of it, sending a no-doubter over the center field fence and Lynn out of the game. Jimmy Lambert was brought in to finish the sixth inning.

The White Sox starter shouldered the blame for the loss.

“I have to get through that inning,” Lynn said. “If I get through that inning, we’ve got a chance to win. Put the bullpen in a bad spot. They had to come get me out of the inning, and it didn’t go our way after that. If I get through the sixth, it definitely gives us a better chance.

“When you don’t go six innings, you didn’t do your job as a starter. So I didn’t do my job tonight, and it cost us the game.”

With the White Sox clinching to a one-run lead, it was Grifol’s decision to bring in Kendall Graveman on back-to-back nights that drew some criticism from the fans. Graveman got an early double play but then ran into trouble and loaded the bases.

Grifol then decided to go with a lefty-lefty matchup and brought in Jake Diekman, who had a 4.99 ERA last season, to face Yordan Alvarez. Diekman, who was the White Sox’s lone trade deadline acquisition a year ago, also owned the worst walk rate in baseball. Not exactly a guy you would trust with a one-run lead and no room for error.

The decision went about as well as you’d expect. Alvarez ripped a go-ahead double to left field, giving the Astros a 5-3 lead. It was two huge moves that backfired. But Grifol stood by them after the game.

“We talk to these guys before the game. He was ready to do that,” Grifol said of Graveman. “He threw 11 pitches yesterday. He felt good.”

Alvarez is just a good hitter,” Grifol added when discussing the Diekman move. “He left a fastball out over the plate a little bit and made a good swing on it. I liked the matchup for sure.”

You can’t use your best arms every night, and in Grifol’s defense, Graveman has usually been a reliable reliever for the White Sox, posting a 3.18 ERA a year ago. But two walks and two hits in 2/3 innings are not going to get the job done.

“Obviously, you never want that to happen,” Graveman told reporters after the game. “But you’ve got to continue to work and get better. Somebody’s going to pick us up tomorrow, and let’s go try to win a series and win a game. We’ve still got two ahead of us.”

The blown lead wasted a great performance from Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, and Eloy Jimenez, who all logged multi-hit games. Anderson has been on base six times to start the season. Jimenez provided two RBI doubles, and Moncada looked like his vintage 2019 self with three hits and an RBI.

“He’s seeing the ball really well,” Grifol said. “Moncada is playing really good baseball with a lot of energy.” The White Sox will try to get back in the win column on Saturday against the Astros.