Shane Smith shines in MLB debut despite White Sox 8-3 loss to the Twins

Although the scoreless streak ends at 28 2⁄3 innings, Smith powered through 5 2⁄3 in his first career start

The White Sox started the game out strong, going up on an early 3-0 lead, but the bullpen couldn't hold things together, and the Twins battled back, defeating the Good Guys 8-3.

Just days after his 25th birthday, Shane Smith made his major league debut for the Chicago White Sox, and he was able to keep the Minnesota Twins at bay through 5 2⁄3 solid innings. He gave up just two runs on two hits, and while Smith struggled a bit with walks — allowing four of them while striking out three — they didn't really become an issue until the sixth inning.

Facing his first big league hitter, Smith walked Matt Wallner to lead off the game, but he immediately bounced back and recorded his first major league strikeouts with back-to-back Ks from Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton. The righthander got into some medium-hot water after Trevor Larnach dropped a weak base-hit into right, putting runners on the corner with two outs. Shane recovered perfectly, however, earning his third strikeout after Ryan Jeffers went down looking on a slider that painted the corner.

Smith started to cruise after the first, pushing through a 1-2-3 inning in the second, and even though he walked Wallner a second time in the third, he forced Correa to ground into a double play to end the inning. Though, I'm not sure how hard you have to force him with how bad he has been hitting recently.

Smith kept chugging through the Twins lineup and retired them in order once again in the fourth. He held them off again in the fifth, thanks to Lenyn Sosa flashing some leather. His diving play likely saved a would-be base hit from ending up in the right field corner.

With only 60 pitches through five, Smith began the sixth smoothly and quickly, working through the first two outs. He then went down on a 3-0 count to Buxton and ended up walking him on a pitch that was very clearly a strike. No, I'm definitely still not salty about it.

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Smith then walked Trevor Larnach, and the back-to-back walks caused Will Venable to go to the bullpen — putting Penn Murfee in with two outs and runners on first and second. Chaos then ensued, and Murfee gave up five runs in the blink of an eye, and just like that, the three-run lead became a two-run deficit. Back-to-back base hits, a hit-by-pitch, and two more base hits was the sequence that set the White Sox lead on fire. Fraser Ellard had to sub out the sub to clean up the mess. The first two runs were charged to Smith, sadly ending the scoreless streak for White Sox starters at 28 2⁄3 innings. It was still an impressive feat for a team that ranked 28th in the league in team ERA last season.

He very much deserved the standing ovation he received tonight.

Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson had a similar beginning to his game, walking the first Chicago batter he faced, designated hitter Nick Maton. Like Smith, Richardson recovered just fine, and the leadoff walk turned out to be a big nothing burger. Maton was caught stealing as Luis Robert Jr. struck out on a failed hit-and-run attempt, and Andrew Vaughn followed suit by striking out to end the inning.

The offense had a better run in the second, with Andrew Benintendi keeping his hot streak going and driving a leadoff single to right. Lenyn Sosa was able to single and move Benintendi to third, setting Brooks Baldwin up perfectly to drive in the first run for the Good Guys and take an early 1-0 lead.

The bottom of the fourth was basically a clone of the second, as Benintendi reached again on a leadoff infield single, and Sosa followed that up with a stand-up double to left. Once again, Baldwin came up in a prime position with runners on second and third with one out. He battled through a tough at-bat and ended up driving in the game's second run on a sacrifice fly to right. Baldwin finished the day going 1-for-3 with two RBIs and has been taking great at-bats the last few weeks.

The South Side offense did not stop there! Nick Maton smashed his second homer of the year to increase the White Sox lead to three. He took a change-up straight down the middle over the right field fence to increase Chicago's lead to three. I was poking fun before the game about him being in the leadoff position, and he proved me wrong today!

Unfortunately, the South Siders did not score again — they had a solid chance in the bottom of the eighth, with consecutive hits from Vaughn and Benintendi. Fortunately for Correa, his glove is functioning much better than his bat, and he made a great diving play to rob Miguel Vargas of a line drive up the middle.

Ellard was solid for the seventh — he ended up allowing just one baserunner on a walk in 1 1⁄3 innings, also striking out one. The eighth took a bit more work, with Bryce Wilson starting the inning, quickly giving up a single and a walk, though Brandon Eisert had to come in to close it out after Wilson got Castro to pop out.

The ninth inning was a match for the arm barn, however. Eisert allowed a leadoff double to Wallner (yet again), and Venable immediately went to Jordan Leasure. Reader, this also did not go well. Harrison Bader came up just a few batters later and put the nail in the White Sox coffin, launching a three-run shot to left, putting Minnesota up 8-3.

The Good Guys went down in order to close out the ninth, bringing the series to 1-1 and dropping them to 2-3 on the year. Pending the weather, the Sox and Twins will face off in a series finale Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. CT.