Venable then went to the mound to talk about an appeal play but forgot he wasn’t allowed to do so.
Under rule 5.10(l), "a manager or coach is allowed only one visit to the mound per pitcher in a single inning without penalty. If the same coach or manager makes a second visit to the same pitcher in the same inning, the pitcher must be removed from the pitching position."
Venable’s visit to the mound meant he had to remove Schultz from the game just five batters in. His gaffe was especially costly, because the team lost in 13 innings the night before and taxed its bullpen.
Venable’s blunder meant his already taxed bullpen was going to have to work 8⅔ innings. David Sandlin, who replaced Schultz, hadn’t even begun throwing in the bullpen when Venable went to the pitcher’s mound; he was just getting loose and stretching.
While Venable said after the game that Schultz was not going to pitch long in the game anyway, he would have lasted more than the five batters he faced if it weren't for Venable's mound visit. The 43-year-old manager took full responsibility for his error.
"Yeah, just an inexcusable mistake by me where we had an appeal play that we wanted to execute, and, in the urgency of trying to make that happen, just totally lost that we had visited," Venable said, according to MLB.com.
"Obviously, that was a mistake. So, just messed it up."
Sandlin, who was called up from Triple-A before the game, ended up saving the bullpen, going 5⅓ innings on 96 pitches. While the circumstances of his entrance into the game were odd, he didn’t make any excuses.
"I got a little extra time out there," Sandlin said. "I think I got about eight pitches in the 'pen and then got to warm up out there. Can't make any excuses. Just have to get going. Felt good enough and started off great."
For the White Sox, it was their fourth straight loss, making them the last team in baseball to have a four-game losing streak this season. They had not lost more than three in a row before Friday.
The White Sox (59-56) will look to bounce back in the second game of their three-game series against their American League Central foe, the Guardians (58-59), Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET.
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