Struggling at the end of a great year, White Sox reliever Sean Newcomb feels he’s gotten too predictable

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Sean Newcomb fastball that Tigers infielder Hao-Yu Lee hit for a game-tying home run last Friday against the White Sox sizzled in at 96.7 mph.

That was frustrating, but also answered a question for a reliever who has already logged 88 innings on the year.

“It’s not a stuff thing,” Newcomb told the Sun-Times.

Instead, Newcomb attributes a 10.80 ERA in September to becoming too predictable. His four-seam fastball has been one of the best pitches in the sport, but Lee homered on the fifth four-seamer of that at-bat.

Newcomb has struggled to land his slurve to get ahead in counts too, but feels this stretch resembles an earlier point of the season when he was getting beat on too many fastballs.

“The frustrating part is me not realizing it right away,” Newcomb said. “Pushing through it instead of taking a step back, looking at the big picture.”

Opening jitters

Before tossing two scoreless innings on Wednesday, Newcomb’s only scoreless appearance in September was also the only scoreless outing for a White Sox “opener” in their last four usages, as Bryan Hudson was touched up for four runs (three earned) on Wednesday night before giving way to Erick Fedde.

The Sox have prioritized handedness matchups in the first inning all season, with Wednesday being their MLB-leading 31st use of an opener, and show no signs of backing down.

“It’s an approach that we feel strongly about, specifically with Fedde,” said manager Will Venable. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s something we feel strongly gave us the best chance today.”