MIAMI — The Chicago White Sox completed what manager Will Venable summed up as a “tough series, tough road trip” with a 10-0 loss to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday in front of 6,505 at loanDepot park.
The Sox dropped two of three in the series and went 1-5 during the stops in Milwaukee and Miami.
They’ll have to wait an extra day for the home opener, which was postponed from Thursday because of showers and thunderstorms in the forecast. The game has been moved to Friday.
Here are three takeaways from Miami.
1. Sox starter Shane Smith’s outing was ‘just not good enough.’
Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Shane Smith pitches during the first inning of a game against the Miami Marlins, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Shane Smith fielded a comebacker with one out in the first inning. He turned and fired to second base, looking for a potential inning-ending double play and a scoreless first. But the throw went wild.
The next four Marlins’ batters had — in order — an RBI single, two-run double, RBI single and another single. When the inning ended, the Sox trailed 4-0.
Smith surrendered a two-run home run to Liam Hicks in the second inning and a two-run single to Javier Sanoja in the third.
Smith lasted just three innings Wednesday, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits with two walks and one strikeout.
“Not good enough,” Smith said. “Just not good enough.”
The right-hander has a 19.29 ERA through two starts this season, allowing 10 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Venable saw some similarities in the first two starts.
“The four-seamer just wasn’t in play,” Venable said. “He didn’t get a lot of swing and miss. A (leadoff) walk (in the first) and then throwing that ball away, that double-play ball right there. Just couldn’t recover. Just another outing that we didn’t see the Shane that we’re used to.”
2. Sandy Alcantara proved to be a tough assignment for the Sox.
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara reacts calmly after pitching a complete game shutout against the Chicago White Sox, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miguel Vargas hit a grand slam and collected a career-high six RBIs in Monday’s 9-4 Sox victory. The offense continued to roll early Tuesday, jumping out to a lead with a two-run third inning that featured four hits. But the Sox didn’t get another hit after the third, losing 9-2.
Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara kept the bats silent in a fantastic start Wednesday, limiting the Sox to three hits in the complete-game shutout. Tristan Peters had a bunt single in the second inning. Chase Meidroth had a two-out single in the third. Luisangel Acuña singled with two outs in the eighth.
Alcantara struck out seven and did not allow a walk in the 93-pitch outing. The Sox were blanked for the first time this season.
“Sandy was really good,” Venable said. “You’ve got to give him credit. I thought we came in with a good game plan, guys were engaged and were competitive. We just got beat by a really good pitcher. I think it’s as simple as that.”
One potential offensive weapon, right fielder Everson Pereira, exited after a fifth-inning at-bat with left ankle soreness.
“Fouled the ball off the same ankle that he had rolled (on Monday),” Venable said. “So in that situation, wanted to be precautionary, make sure that he can recover and not do more damage to that ankle than need be.”
The Sox said Pereira is day-to-day.
3. The team made a change in the bullpen, designating Jedixson Páez for assignment.
Chicago White Sox pitcher Jedixson Páez makes his major-league debut during the sixth inning of an opening-day game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Rule 5 draft selection Jedixson Páez went from High A to the majors when he made the opening-day roster. But the command wasn’t consistent, and the right-hander was designated for assignment on Wednesday morning.
“It’s a tough jump for him,” Venable said before Wednesday’s game. “We had confidence that he was able to do it. Whether it was that things sped up on him, really the strike-throwing, that’s something that was really his calling card, one of his strongest skill sets and we weren’t able to get there with it.”
The White Sox selected Páez, 22, from the Boston Red Sox during the Rule 5 draft in December. He allowed six runs on four hits with three walks and no strikeouts in three innings during three relief outings. He surrendered three runs on two hits with a walk in 1 1/3 innings during his most recent outing on Tuesday in the 9-2 loss.
“Just felt like it was the right thing to do, for him and for our group — where we’re going to need those innings, we’re going to need some, truthfully, some better performance out of that roster spot,” Venable said of the move.
In the corresponding move, the Sox selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Lucas Sims from Triple-A Charlotte.
Sims, 31, entered Wednesday with a career 23-19 record, along with a 4.86 ERA, 12 saves, 58 holds and 366 strikeouts in 318 1/3 innings during 263 career appearances (14 starts) over nine major-league seasons with the Atlanta Braves (2017-18), Cincinnati Reds (2018-24), Boston Red Sox (2024) and Washington Nationals (2025).
Sims said his offseason included “a lot of work on the mental side of things.”
“That was a big point of emphasis on that, I don’t want to say rediscovering, but just a lot of reflection, a lot of introspection,” Sims said Wednesday morning.
Sims allowed one hit, struck out one and walked one in two scoreless innings on Wednesday.