Smith's first MLB win highlights rain-shortened affair
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MINNEAPOLIS -- It wasn¡¯t exactly how Shane Smith imagined earning his first Major League victory, but he wasn¡¯t complaining.
Smith gave up four hits and walked one over five innings on Thursday as the White Sox beat the Twins, 3-0, in a game shortened to seven innings due to rain.
¡°Really cool to get the first win,¡± said Smith, who sat through a one-hour rain delay before the game was finally called. ¡°Not the way you picture it, but I think it was a good enough day that it could happen. Our bullpen did a good job the next two innings to keep that secure. Not the way you write it up, but nothing is.¡±
While Smith was making personal history, the White Sox also accomplished an important feat, snapping a 14-game winless streak at Target Field. That¡¯s the longest road losing streak they¡¯ve had against any opponent in team history. But it¡¯s all in the past thanks to Smith and timely homers from Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas.
¡°He looked like he¡¯s looked every start,¡± said White Sox manager Will Venable. ¡°I guess today was a little different where there was a lot of offspeed early in the game and then got back to the good fastball and really mixed it up.¡±
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Smith wasn¡¯t quite as dominant as he was in his second career start, when he threw six scoreless innings in a no-decision at Cleveland. But he put the clamps on two of Minnesota¡¯s hottest hitters. Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach both homered in Minnesota¡¯s 6-3 victory on Wednesday, but Smith fanned them both twice on his way to a season-high seven strikeouts.
Smith even helped himself with his pickoff move, catching Edouard Julien napping after Julien led off the first inning with a single.
¡°I didn¡¯t feel [sharp], but the numbers were good,¡± Smith said. ¡°I feel like I need to get the changeup in the zone a little more often and just spin the curveball at a higher clip.¡±
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The Twins put runners in scoring position twice, but Smith buckled down both times. After Christian V¨¢zquez doubled to lead off the third, Smith retired Julien on a fly ball, struck out Buxton and got red-hot rookie Luke Keaschall to fly out to center.
In the fifth, Brooks Lee led off with a single and moved to second on an infield grounder, but Smith got V¨¢zquez to pop out before he caught Julien looking at strike three on his 82nd and final pitch of the day.
¡°He¡¯s been in attack mode,¡± Venable said. ¡°There¡¯s counts that he loses leverage on, but then gets right back in the count, and he¡¯s able to put guys away when he gets ahead.¡±
The White Sox selected Smith as the top pick of the most recent Rule 5 Draft. Rule 5 players have to stay on the Major League roster for an entire season or else be offered back to their original club at a discount. But that doesn¡¯t look to be a concern for the White Sox after seeing what Smith has done in his first month as a big leaguer.
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As for Smith, he¡¯s learning more about himself with each start and gaining confidence along the way.
¡°I think I can be aggressive as I want to be, whether it¡¯s soft stuff in the zone, hard in the zone, I think I can command it well enough that I¡¯m not going to get hurt a lot of the time,¡± he said. ¡°I just have a lot of confidence in what I¡¯m doing.¡±