Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable, who has had a strong first season with the team, made a critical error during the White Sox’s 8-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians at Rate Field on Friday, August 7th, 2026.

Just four batters into the game, starting pitcher Noah Schultz had loaded the bases, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Zach Bove. One batter later, left fielder Angel Martinez hit a two-run single. Venable then made a second mound visit to Schultz in the same inning, violating official MLB rule 5.10(l), which allows only one mound visit per pitcher per inning without penalty. The rule mandates that if a manager or coach makes a second visit to the same pitcher in the same inning, the pitcher must be removed from the game.

As a result, Schultz was forced out after facing just five batters, further taxing an already exhausted White Sox bullpen, which had been heavily used in a 13-inning loss the previous night.

Venable acknowledged the mistake, saying, "Yeah, just an inexcusable mistake by me where we had an appeal play that we wanted to execute, and in the urgency of trying to make that happen, just totally lost that we had visited," according to MLB.com. He also admitted, "Obviously that was a mistake. So, just messed it up."

Reliever Sandlin, recently called up from Triple-A, helped mitigate the bullpen strain by pitching 5 1/3 innings on 96 pitches.

Official Rule 5.10(l) Summary

"A manager or coach is allowed only one visit to the mound per pitcher in a single inning without penalty. If the same coach or manager makes a second visit to the same pitcher in the same inning, the pitcher must be removed from the pitching position."

Sources