Robert pulled before White Sox strong start unravels in 7th

CHICAGO -- Saturday’s 12-3 loss for the White Sox to the Rays was a difficult one to believe, even for a White Sox team sitting at 7-21 in the midst of a 10-game losing streak and tied for their worst start in franchise history (also 1948).

And then the postgame interview sessions made the night even stranger.

Lance Lynn carried a no-hitter into the seventh, but the Rays not only ended his bid with Wander Franco’s two-strike, opposite-field home run leading off the frame but scored 10 before the inning concluded.

Let’s return to that in a moment, though, and focus first on Luis Robert Jr.

The five-tool talent and Gold Glove-winning center fielder is mired in a 5-for-55 slump over his past 15 games, but he didn’t get past the second inning Saturday. The reason for his exit differs depending on who is telling the story.

On the first pitch of the game from Rays opener Calvin Faucher, Robert swung at a cutter well out of the zone and tapped the ball to the third-base side of the mound, breaking quickly out of the box. But Robert grimaced about two-thirds of the way down the line, noticeably slowed down and was thrown out by Faucher’s bounced throw on the play he might have beaten if continuing to sprint.

Robert returned defensively for the top of the second, but he was then removed for pinch-hitter Oscar Colas in the bottom half. The move was described by the White Sox as a “manager’s decision,” something White Sox manager Pedro Grifol confirmed after the setback.

According to Robert, the situation was caused by a right hamstring injury issue only known about by a few people, including teammates Eloy Jiménez and Elvis Andrus. Grifol and the coaching staff were not privy to the information.

“What happened was last night, I ran, I hustled a lot down the line. Today, my legs were a little tired,” said Robert through interpreter Billy Russo. “My right hamstring was a little tight. Then I decided just to play conservative today. My mistake was that I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t tell the manager because I knew if I said something to him, he probably wouldn’t let me play.

“Since I woke up this morning, my hamstring was tight. Then before the game, my mind was made up. I wouldn’t try to push too hard unless it was something that was game-ending because I wasn’t feeling like I was 100 percent. I tried to play safe. Unfortunately, the first at-bat of the game, that little ground ball, it’s what happened.”

When asked in Spanish by Russo if he understood why Grifol removed him, Robert laughed for a moment, paused and then said he did.

“He didn’t know,” Robert said. “People that didn’t know what was going on, you could think it was a lack of effort on my part. To me, people who know me, they know I’m always doing my best and running hard down the line.

“After the play happened, [bench coach Charlie] Montoyo came to me and asked me, ‘Hey, are you OK?’ I didn’t say anything. And then Pedro came and asked me, too, ‘Hey, everything OK?’ I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to say anything. I wanted to stay in the game. But I think afterwards, one of the guys told them, and that is when they knew.”

Grifol acknowledged Robert as a hard worker who plays hard, but said he might have had a mental lapse in the first.

“Our expectations are we got to run hard down the line,” Grifol said. “This is not a common occurrence with Luis.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve talked to him about slowing down a little bit in practices and saving some of it. I just spoke to him and said we got to run hard down the line. That’s it.”

Lynn struck out 10, but scoffed at the idea of thinking about the no-hitter bid by pointing to the loss and stating that it doesn’t matter.

What does matter is a group with postseason hopes falling deeper into the abyss as one of baseball’s worst teams.

“It wasn't good and it hasn't been good so far,” Lynn said. “We haven't played good baseball. We're losing a lot of games. We've lost a lot in a row here, so we better figure something out here quick."

“Exactly what you can think of after having a three-run lead in the sixth with a no-hitter and giving up 10,” said Grifol of the clubhouse demeanor. “Whatever you can possibly think of, that’s what it’s like. Can’t hide from it. It happened, and we got a game tomorrow.”