KANSAS CITY, Mo. — White Sox manager Tony La Russa didn’t like hearing veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto’s questioning of the team’s “fire” after its 8-3 loss to the Royals Wednesday night.
That’s to be expected. A lack of fire or energy never reflects well on the manager, especially for a team that considered itself a World Series contender but is shuffling around the .500 mark in the middle of August.
“I think it’s a curious statement,” La Russa said Thursday morning before the Sox closed out an eight-game road trip. “It’s better to be discussed within the family. If there’s a problem, we’ll straighten it out.
“I heard that he said that and I was surprised he said that. His opinion is welcome and it also carries weight; the guy is experienced. I’ll ask him about it.”
Cueto spoke after pitching six innings of three-run ball, giving up two runs. The two-time All-Star and former World Series hero for the Royals has been the Sox’ second-best starter.
“We need to fight,” Cueto said through translator Billy Russo after the game. “We need to show the fire that we have — if we have any.”
It’s known that Cueto’s viewpoint is shared by some inside the clubhouse. And it’s hard to characterize the Sox as a fiery team, not when players were given passes on running hard on ground balls for the purpose of preserving sore legs.
Struggling to score runs, playing poor defense and not running the bases well has done nothing for the look, either. While ace Dylan Cease was holding the Royals to one run through six innings Thursday afternoon, the Sox blew three big scoring chances in the first six innings against Zack Greinke, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven runners on base.
A baserunning mistake by Seby Zavala cost them a run.
Embraced by fans when their contention window opened in 2020, the Sox charged hard with “change the game” motto and were a visibly more fun bunch to watch in what was Rick Renteria’s last season. La Russa was hired out of retirement by chairman and friend Jerry Reinsdorf after 2020 to take the Sox to the World Series, and they won 93 games but lost in the first round to the Astros last season.
La Russa had lauded his team’s “fight” and “guts” throughout the season. As for lacking fire, he pointed to a slick double play turned by second baseman Josh Harrison and rookie shortstop Lenyn Sosa, one of three double plays turned behind Cueto.
“Play that was made by the second baseman and shortstop yesterday?” La Russa said. “How did that happen? They weren’t fired up?”
Asked why he was surprised by what Cueto said, La Russa paused at length and chose his words carefully.
“I’m not sure how to answer that without ... he’s a veteran, we all respect him and he’s someone to listen to but it’s surprising for … usually that’s better said in the clubhouse in front of your teammates,” La Russa said. “That way it can be discussed.
“Take care of it inside the family. ... That’s how we should handle it. You’re always going to have issues and problems, handle it like a family.”
The Sox needed to beat the Royals Thursday to split the series. They’re one game over .500 and fortunate to be trailing the first-place Guardians by two and a half games, and the second-place Twins by one and a half games.
They haven’t been able to sustain even a small winning streak playing a stretch of 19-straight games against teams with losing records. They’re 8-7 on it currently, and play the Tigers at home this weekend before playing the Astros and Guardians next week.
“It’s not even a switch [that needs to be turned on],” La Russa said. “The switch is on. Otherwise, the games wouldn’t be close and we wouldn’t be where we are. But for things to come together and really get hot, that’s what we need to do. Get some good momentum with some guys feeling good at the plate.
“We’ve made some errors but we’ve made a lot of plays, too. If you watch us play you’ll see us make an error here or there but you’ll also see us play a lot of real good defense. So that’s there, and the pitching is there. We’re in a position to get hot. Talk is cheap.”
