As wild as White Sox starter Jake Peavy was Thursday night in a 10-2
loss to the Tampa Bay Rays — and his career-high seven walks will tell
you just how wild that was — his most costly misfire came as a
fielder.
After a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs in the
third inning, Peavy got Rays cleanup hitter Evan Longoria to tap meekly
back to the mound.
A perfect, gift-wrapped double-play ball.
Or so it should have been.
Peavy’s throw to catcher A.J. Pierzynski was low and didn’t
allow him to make a throw to first base after getting the force out at
home plate.
A visibly upset Peavy was unable to keep the lid on the inning
after that, as it spiraled into a nightmarish 42-pitch marathon that
ended up featuring four walks and four Rays runs. His anger was not at
Pierzynski, who did not have a good angle to throw to first, but
instead at himself.
“There’s no way that shouldn’t be a double play,” Peavy said.
“It was a huge momentum swing, the defining moment in tonight’s start.”
The errant throw helped skyrocket his pitch count and erased any chance for a productive outing.
“If I make a better throw home and we get rid of that ball and
turn a double-play to get out of that inning, you’re talking about 20,
30 less pitches I have to throw,” Peavy said. “You get out of there
with one run, still a 2-1 game going into the fifth with 30 less
pitches.”
Early on this season, this type of start is becoming all too
common for Peavy. Only one of the right-hander’s four outings have been
quality and his ERA rose to a bloated 7.66. More alarming is how wild
he’s been.
Peavy now has as many walks (15) as strikeouts.
Interestingly enough, he said after the game that he had made a
dramatic adjustment mechanically and was pleased with the way he was
throwing — just not the results.
“My stuff was as good as it can get, I believe,” said Peavy.
“But obviously location wasn’t there. Walking seven guys is
unacceptable.
