The best part about the home opener for Chicago White Sox fans was the tailgate outside the stadium because everything that followed was terrible, including a long line to get into the game and then the San Francisco Giants put on their own home run derby against Michael Kopech, leading to a 12-3 White Sox loss.
Oh and the game also featured a mini war of words or word if you believe Giants pitcher Anthony DeSclafani.
During the second inning of Monday’s game, Andrew Vaughn stepped up to the plate with Yoan Moncada at second base after the third baseman doubled down the left-field line with one out. DeSclafani fell behind 3-0 to Vaughn and then threw him a slider. Vaughn had the green light, but he weakly grounded out back to the pitcher and then seemingly out of nowhere, DeSclafani all of a sudden had to be held back by Giants first baseman Lamonte Wade Jr. from Vaughn, who was jogging back to the White Sox dugout.
Everyone and I mean everyone was shitting on DeSclafani when that was posted all over social media, calling him out for being upset about Vaughn swinging at a 3-0 pitch. I’m not even sure if that’s an unwritten rule because frankly I don’t give a shit, but it turns out that Vaughn may have been the one who was actually pissed off at what happened on the 3-0 pitch and not DeSclafani.
Well, that’s according to the Giants pitcher anyway, who addressed what looked to be a one-sided heated incident. DeSclafani told reporters that Vaughn said something to him first and that’s why he reacted the way he did.
You can’t really see Vaughn saying anything, but yet again his back was to the camera as he was running down the line to first base, so he definitely could have said something to DeSclafani. I think we can all guess what that word was if Vaughn felt insulted by the fact that DeSclafani didn’t challenge him with a fastball.
Former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski was in the TV booth the following inning and as Steve Stone and Jason Benetti discussed what the issue could have been between DeSclafani and Vaughn, Pierzynski turns out was spot on because he brought up exactly what ended up happening.
Again, I haven’t read up on the new version of MLB’s unwritten rules, but man, I doubt that not throwing a hitter a 3-0 fastball is part of them. This isn’t a 2023 thing either. Pitchers have evolved from relying on their fastballs and are now sticking with their best pitch whether it’s a slider or a different off-speed variation and they have been more often in recent years.
So, if Vaughn really was upset over that, pretty soft move in my opinion.
DeSclafani ended up pitching six shutout innings in the win over the White Sox, allowing three hits and striking out four. Vaughn got the first White Sox run on the board, driving in Andrew Benintendi with a double in the seventh inning.
