White Sox outfielder Brenton Doyle has a lot of respect for the way teammate Tristan Peters plays. Doyle just wishes that didn’t cost Peters on Friday night, and doesn’t think it should have.
“I’ve had my fair share of those kind of hits against the wall,” Doyle said. “Honestly, it’s a shame that they have outfield walls designed like that. I think they really need to lock into the safety of the players, especially for plays like that.”
During the fifth inning, Peters tried to chase down a Kevin McGonigle drive to right-center. Peters crashed into a padded stanchion supporting a see-through chain-link fence that’s in place so fans sitting in a patio area can watch the game.
Peters, who was out of the lineup Saturday but appeared to feel better than he did Friday, ended up with a left shoulder/rib contusion after the scary incident. Though it could be argued Peters got lucky considering the violence of the play, Doyle has a solution for avoiding repeats: get rid of the stanchions.
“If you have a flat surface wall like we have in left-center field, I don’t think that happens, and I think he’d be able to play today,” Doyle said.
Making some switches, however, might bring its own complications. Even if the Sox would want to make changes it would take some engineering to maintain an unobstructed up-close view of the field while making things safer for the players.
But if something is tweaked before next season, it won’t be due to Sox manager Will Venable.
“There are a lot of things in every major-league ballpark that pose danger to players, that’s part of it,” Venable said. “As far as reevaluating the structure of our ballpark because of the play, that’s not my job.”
A new experience
Before his trade to the Sox, Doyle played the first three-plus years of his career with the Rockies and never came close to experiencing a playoff race.
Doyle said the excitement of playing for a postseason spot has “been a breath of fresh air.”
“This is the first time in my MLB career where I’ve actually paid attention to the division this late in the season,” Doyle said. “It’s been exciting, keeping up with other games, and at the same time, feeling that pressure because I truly believe pressure is a privilege.”
Bullpenning
Sox starters are not providing much length, and that’s forcing Venable to find solutions to fill innings every day. With the playoff race coming down to the last games, Venable said navigating the bullpen is a “a journey every day and we’ll find what the path looks like.”
“It looks different every single day as different guys are available, you get different performances out of starters and you just kind of piece it together,” Venable said. “That’s been the daily challenge and part of finding ways to win every single game this season. That’s what every team’s doing every day. So that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
Entering Saturday, Sox relievers had thrown 1 1/3 innings or more 202 times, tied with the 2024 Tigers for the second most in major-league history. The bullpen led baseball in innings pitched (726 2/3) and strikeouts (681).
