Smith's first MLB win highlights rain-shortened affair

MINNEAPOLIS -- It wasn’t exactly how Shane Smith imagined earning his first Major League victory, but he wasn’t complaining.

Smith gave up four hits and walked one over five innings on Thursday as the White Sox beat the Twins, 3-0, in a game shortened to seven innings due to rain.

“Really cool to get the first win,” said Smith, who sat through a one-hour rain delay before the game was finally called. “Not the way you picture it, but I think it was a good enough day that it could happen. Our bullpen did a good job the next two innings to keep that secure. Not the way you write it up, but nothing is.”

While Smith was making personal history, the White Sox also accomplished an important feat, snapping a 14-game winless streak at Target Field. That’s the longest road losing streak they’ve had against any opponent in team history. But it’s all in the past thanks to Smith and timely homers from Lenyn Sosa and Miguel Vargas.

“He looked like he’s looked every start,” said White Sox manager Will Venable. “I guess today was a little different where there was a lot of offspeed early in the game and then got back to the good fastball and really mixed it up.”

Smith wasn’t quite as dominant as he was in his second career start, when he threw six scoreless innings in a no-decision at Cleveland. But he put the clamps on two of Minnesota’s hottest hitters. Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach both homered in Minnesota’s 6-3 victory on Wednesday, but Smith fanned them both twice on his way to a season-high seven strikeouts.

Smith even helped himself with his pickoff move, catching Edouard Julien napping after Julien led off the first inning with a single.

“I didn’t feel [sharp], but the numbers were good,” Smith said. “I feel like I need to get the changeup in the zone a little more often and just spin the curveball at a higher clip.”

The Twins put runners in scoring position twice, but Smith buckled down both times. After Christian Vázquez doubled to lead off the third, Smith retired Julien on a fly ball, struck out Buxton and got red-hot rookie Luke Keaschall to fly out to center.

In the fifth, Brooks Lee led off with a single and moved to second on an infield grounder, but Smith got Vázquez to pop out before he caught Julien looking at strike three on his 82nd and final pitch of the day.

“He’s been in attack mode,” Venable said. “There’s counts that he loses leverage on, but then gets right back in the count, and he’s able to put guys away when he gets ahead.”

The White Sox selected Smith as the top pick of the most recent Rule 5 Draft. Rule 5 players have to stay on the Major League roster for an entire season or else be offered back to their original club at a discount. But that doesn’t look to be a concern for the White Sox after seeing what Smith has done in his first month as a big leaguer.

As for Smith, he’s learning more about himself with each start and gaining confidence along the way.

“I think I can be aggressive as I want to be, whether it’s soft stuff in the zone, hard in the zone, I think I can command it well enough that I’m not going to get hurt a lot of the time,” he said. “I just have a lot of confidence in what I’m doing.”