Alex Sanabia lost Steve Cishek’s sunglasses on the way to the ballpark Sunday. The day went downhill from there for both pitchers.
Sanabia surrendered four runs and sustained a groin injury that he said will likely force him to the disabled list, and Cishek gave up a run in the ninth as the Marlins lost their fifth in a row, a 5-3 defeat to the Chicago White Sox.
Along the way, two Marlins were thrown out at the plate.
“Right now, there’s no point in continuing to pitch, because it’ll only make it weaker,” Sanabia said of his injured groin. “I don’t want to make it worse and have it be something serious instead of something minor.”
Sanabia will join 11 other Marlins who are already on the disabled list. The Marlins are expected to call up left-handed reliever Dan Jennings from Triple A New Orleans, and could turn to either Wade LeBlanc or Duane Below to move into the rotation — at least for the time being.
It has been a long week for Sanabia. The right-hander made headlines when video captured him spitting on the baseball in his start against the Phillies earlier in the week.
On Sunday, he was knocked around early by the White Sox, giving up a pair of runs in each of the first two innings before exiting after the fourth.
Sanabia said he injured his groin in the first couple innings but stayed on the mound to preserve the bullpen as much as possible.
“It’s not anything serious,” he said. “But it’s not going to get better by going out there. So a few days to recover and pitch stronger.”
Sanabia was tasked with bringing Cishek’s sunglasses to the ballpark after the reliever discovered he left them in his hotel room. But after Sanabia got to U.S. Cellular Field, he realized he left Cishek’s shades in the taxi.
After the White Sox grabbed the lead in the first on Adam Dunn’s two-run homer, the Marlins tied it in the second on RBI singles from Justin Ruggiano and Nick Green. During that inning, though, Chris Coghlan became the first Marlin to be cut down at the plate when he was thrown out by Dayan Viciedo.
Chicago made it 4-2 in the second on Alejandro De Aza’s double. But the Marlins trimmed it to 4-3 on Marcell Ozuna’s ground out in the third.
The Marlins had a chance to tie it in the sixth when Ruggiano singled to right and Alex Rios dropped the ball. But Ozuna, who had been at second, was late in noticing the miscue, and the ensuing play at the plate turned out closer than perhaps it should have been.
Ozuna tried to reach around catcher Hector Gimenez, who was blocking the plate with his leg, and touch the plate with his hand. Ozuna said his fingers grazed the plate. But home plate umpire Paul Nauert saw otherwise.
Manager Mike Redmond said Ozuna made two mistakes on the play.
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“If we had been a little bit more aggressive rounding third, that shouldn’t have even been a play,” Redmond said. “You don’t want to leave it up to the mercy of the umpire on a bang-bang play.”
Redmond said he also thought Ozuna shouldn’t have slid in feet first.
“I don’t know why we lost the art of just sliding straight into home plate, why everything’s got to be a sweep with the hand, or a diving, sliding on your butt slide,” Redmond said. “I don’t know if that looks better on TV or not. I was always taught to slide in hard to home plate. Those are things I can’t explain.”
LeBlanc, provided three perfect innings in relief of Sanabia.
But the White Sox tacked on an insurance run in the eighth off Cishek, whose struggles against left-handed hitters continued when he gave up a leadoff double to De Aza. One out later, Rios singled to drive in De Aza.
Four White Sox relievers combined to retire the final 10 Marlins.
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