White Sox Manager's Rule Error Forces Early Pitcher Exit in Loss

Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable made a critical rule error during Friday's 8-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, forcing the early removal of starting pitcher Noah Schultz after just one-third of an inning. The mistake compounded an already taxed bullpen following a 13-inning game the previous night.

The incident occurred in the first inning at Rate Field. After Schultz loaded the bases, pitching coach Zach Bove visited the mound. Two pitches later, Angel Martinez hit a two-run single. Venable then went to the mound to discuss an appeal play, not realizing he had already used the team's single allowed mound visit for Schultz in that inning. Under MLB rules, a second visit to the same pitcher in the same inning mandates the pitcher's removal.

"That was a mistake by me," Venable told reporters after the game. "Lost track of the first visit there. Went out to go execute an appeal, and just missed that." He later added, "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."

The error forced Schultz, a 23-year-old rookie, to exit after facing only five...