Ivan Nova went through spring training without walking a batter and continued the clean pitching in his White Sox debut on Monday.
Nova gave up one run in seven innings against the Indians. He did walk a batter, but just the one. Nova struck out four and gave up six hits.
Nova was denied a win, instead settling for a no-decision. After Ryan Cordell’s pinch-hit home run gave the White Sox the lead in the eighth, the bullpen blew it in the bottom half. Jace Fry, Dylan Covey and Caleb Frare combined to give up four runs in a 5-3 White Sox loss.
Nova was efficient with 93 pitches (60 for strikes) in his seven innings. The standout stat for Nova was that he induced 10 ground balls with just one flyout.
Things didn’t start smoothly for Nova. He gave up a double to Leonys Martin on the first pitch. Martin drilled the ball to right field, but Daniel Palka took a bad route to the ball. On the next batter, Jose Ramirez popped up a ball between short and left field. The ball fell between Jose Rondon, in for Tim Anderson after he left the White Sox to be with his wife in labor, and Eloy Jimenez after apparent miscommunication on the play.
Nova appeared to get out of it with a double play ball, but the White Sox weren't sharp enough on the execution to get the second out. Despite all that, Nova got out of the jam with two strikeouts.
That’s the long-winded way to say two of Nova’s six hits allowed could have been outs with cleaner defense.
MLB
Three of the four White Sox starting pitchers so far have had positive outings, but the team is now 1-3. Nova’s quality start follows up good efforts from Carlos Rodon and Lucas Giolito. That trio combined to give up five runs in 19 innings with 18 strikeouts against just three walks.
On the other side on Monday, Indians starter Mike Clevinger dominated with 12 strikeouts in seven innings of one-hit ball. Cordell’s pinch-hit home run came after the Indians bullpen entered.
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