Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable cost his team dearly with an inexcusable mistake in the first inning of Friday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians.
Venable was forced to remove starting pitcher Noah Schultz after he faced just five batters in Friday’s 8-2 loss to the Guardians. Venable tried to visit with Schultz one batter after pitching coach Zach Bove had already done so. By rule, a pitcher who is the subject of two dugout mound visits in the same inning must be removed from the game on the second visit.
— Sox On 35th (@VideosOn35th) August 8, 2026
Venable took the blame for the mistake, saying in an in-game interview that he had “lost track” of the first visit.
“That was a mistake by me,” Venable said. “Lost track of the first visit there, went out to execute an appeal, and just missed that.”
Will Venable took me through what happened with the two mound visits in the first inning that resulted in Noah Schultz having to exit the game. #whitesox pic.twitter.com/B2MxPSqIfX
— Brooke Fletcher (@BrookeFletcher) August 8, 2026
This is the sort of rudimentary rules mistake that is pretty embarrassing to make at an MLB level. To make matters worse, the mistake came one night after the White Sox had to use eight pitchers in a 13-inning loss to the Boston Red Sox, so Chicago’s bullpen was already overtaxed even before this.
David Sandlin essentially saved the bullpen by pitching 5.1 innings in relief of Schultz. He gave up six runs, but at that point Venable’s priority was to save his bullpen as much as possible.
Venable is a young manager who is in his second season at the helm of the White Sox. He has done admirable work there, as he has the team firmly in playoff contention with a 59-56 record. Presumably, this will serve as a learning experience, albeit an embarrassing one.
