Quick Hook By Venable Robs White Sox Starter Of Win

Yoendrys Gómez only has three MLB starts under his belt, but walked off the mound on Sunday just one out shy of his third consecutive victory. With the White Sox prioritizing his long-term health, the 25-year-old had to settle for a pat on the back as he handed the ball to Will Venable instead.

It’s still a small sample size, but Gómez has quietly impressed since putting on a White Sox uniform. In three starts in the White Sox rotation, the right-hander has allowed just four earned runs on 10 hits and five walks across 14.2 innings, striking out 16 along the way. He’s posted a 2.45 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings during that stretch, numbers that suggest he’s settling in as an effective major league starter.

On Sunday, Gómez took the ball against the Twins and pitched well enough to earn his third consecutive win. He allowed just two hits and struck out six across 4.2 scoreless innings of work. However, despite sitting at just 89 pitches with a seven-run lead in the fifth inning, White Sox manager Will Venable took the ball away from Gómez when he needed just one out to qualify for the win.

Gómez had worked himself into a bit of trouble in the fifth. He opened the inning with his third walk of the day, putting Royce Lewis aboard, but quickly settled in. He struck out Edouard Julien on three straight pitches, then got some help from Luis Robert Jr. in center field, who tracked down an Austin Martin line drive and made a diving catch in center field. 

Just when it seemed Gómez was about to escape unscathed, Byron Buxton won a six-pitch battle with a single to put runners at the corners. That brought manager Will Venable out of the dugout, signaling for Brandon Eisert to face Trevor Larnach. Larnach had already doubled off Gómez and nearly had another hit if not for Robert’s glove, but the move still raised eyebrows. With a seven-run cushion and a taxed bullpen that had already seen eight different arms in the past four games, pulling Gómez felt oddly premature.

Gómez was then put in an awkward position after the game when reporters asked him about the move, but failed to ask Venable. Moves like this aren’t likely to lose a locker room, but they can certainly frustrate a player, especially when he’s put on the spot with a translator in the locker room, facing a question that would have been better directed at the manager.

Venable doesn’t have to explain himself; the move worked. Eisert escaped the jam, picked up the win, and the White Sox cruised to an 8-0 victory. However, having the extra victory on his resume would have been nice for Gómez, a pitcher who has already been DFA’d twice this season and certainly pitched well enough to earn one. 

Judging by his recent outings, it appears the White Sox have him on a firm pitch limit. Gómez was lifted after 89 pitches through five innings in his first start and after 90 pitches through five in his second start, pointing toward a likely innings restriction.

Things have started to click for Gómez in Chicago, and the White Sox appear to be thinking long-term. Gómez has good spin on his fastball and a curveball that features significant horizontal break, making him an intriguing pitcher to monitor moving forward. 

His 2025 season has been a rollercoaster. Gómez began the year as a long reliever with the Yankees, but, lacking minor-league options, was DFA’d despite a 2.70 ERA over 10 innings. He was then claimed by the Dodgers, but struggled in a small sample, allowing seven runs in 4.1 innings across three appearances, before being DFA’d again.

The White Sox saw an opportunity to develop him as a starter and sent him to Charlotte after claiming him off waivers in May.  There, Gómez’s performance indicated significant growth. In 14 appearances (11 starts), he threw 46.2 innings with a 2.12 ERA and a 32% strikeout rate, demonstrating both durability and swing-and-miss potential. With Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke getting optioned to Triple-A Charlotte, the opportunity for Gómez to carve out a role in the starting rotation the rest of the year has presented itself. 

While Gómez has made the most of his opportunity with the White Sox thus far, he likely would have wanted the extra victory on his resume.