Torii amazed by Sale"s pitch
Chris Sale didn"t start Saturday for the White Sox, and manager Robin Ventura wouldn"t say after that night"s 3-3 suspended game when the five-time All-Star might again.
Sale was sent home before his scheduled outing against the Tigers for what general manager Rick Hahn called a "non-physical" clubhouse incident that reportedly involved Sale cutting up some of the 1976 throwback uniforms the team was supposed to wear.
Sale reportedly wasn"t comfortable in the uniform and became upset when the team refused to change its plans to use them. The Sox instead played in 1983 throwbacks, which they usually wear during Sunday home games.
Ventura said Jose Quintana would start as planned Sunday and he wouldn"t divulge when Sale would again. Ventura also passed on talking about whether Sale would face further punishment for Saturday"s situation.
"I"ll talk about the game, but any of that stuff, we"ll wait on that," Ventura said after his team and the Tigers game was suspended before the start of the ninth inning after a third rain delay. "I"m not going to discuss what went on in there. But (it"s) unfortunate he didn"t start tonight. Proud of the guys who filled in."
One of those guys was Matt Albers, whom Ventura called on to start in Sale"s place. He was one of six Sox pitchers to take the mound. He allowed one run on one hit with a strikeout in two innings.
Albers said he found out from pitching coach Don Cooper at around 4:30 p.m. that he would be starting for the first time since he did so eight years ago at Wrigley Field when he was with the Orioles.
Albers, like Ventura, was mum on Sale, who is 14-3 with a 3.13 ERA.
"We"re going to keep that in-house," Albers said. "Obviously you guys probably know what happened, but for me as a player, and in our clubhouse, we"re going to keep in in-house.
"You"re going to have to ask somebody else about that."
Nobody wearing a White Sox uniform was talking about it, either, of course.
Third baseman Todd Frazier called Sale a "bulldog" and "a good pitcher."
Going into Saturday, Sale led the American League in innings pitched (133), was tied for first in WHIP (1.01, tied for third in average against (.216), had the fourth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.45) and was tied for eighth in ERA.
Saturday"s incident wasn"t Sale"s first brush with controversy.
This year"s American League All-Star starter referred to himself as an "idiot" after a May 7 game against the Twins during which he hit himself in the head twice with a baseball after walking in a run and hitting a batter to allow another.
"When I get mad I feel like hurting myself," Sale said that night. "I don"t get it. That"s the immaturity part coming out. I have to get over some things."
Sale also spoke out publicly against executive vice president Ken Williams during spring training after Williams said the club wanted to limit access to the clubhouse for former Sox designated hitter Adam LaRoche"s son, Drake LaRoche.
Last season Sale tried to gain entrance into the Royals clubhouse after he was ejected for his role in a brawl during an April 23 game at U.S. Cellular Field.
Finally, Sale left before a game late in 2014 in wake of a vocal run-in with Ventura.
pskrbina@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ChiTribSkrbina
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/ct-chris-sale-white-sox-controversy-spt-0725-20160724-story.html
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