CHICAGO –– Shane Smith has been a bright spot for the 25-54 White Sox, entering his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Rate Field with a 2.85 ERA.

That ranked ninth among American League pitchers with at least 70 innings, second among MLB rookies with at least 45 innings, and it’s the lowest ERA by a White Sox pitcher in his first 14 career starts since Chris Sale in 2012.

But during Monday’s 10-0 loss, he didn’t look his normal self from the opening pitch.

Smith fell into a 2-0 hole on back-to-back fastballs against Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo, who singled on a fastball over the plate. He gave up another single in the second at-bat, this time with Ketel Marte connecting with a changeup on the low and outside corner.

After a Pavin Smith pop out, runners advanced to second and third thanks to a wild pitch on Smith’s 1-2 changeup in the dirt. And just four batters into the game, the Diamondbacks took a 2-0 lead after a two-RBI double from Josh Naylor with a 105.4 mph exit velocity.

Eugenio Suarez’s right hand was hit by Smith’s fastball in the next at-bat, causing the Arizona slugger to leave the game. Smith would get out of the inning with a pair of ground outs, though the second left Randal Grichuk’s bat at 109.3 mph – more solid contact for Arizona off the White Sox starter. Smith answered postgame that his biggest challenge on Monday was finding the zone, throwing off-speed pitches for strikes and finishing off hitters with two strikes.

Smith has had a lot of success with his changeup this season, and he delivered a sharp, downward-breaking one to strike out Alek Thomas to begin the second inning. But Smith struggled with command in the next two at-bats, walking Jose Herrera and Geraldo Perdomo on six pitches each. After a Marte fly out, Pavin Smith broke the game open with a three-run home run that flew 389 feet off Smith’s fastball and gave the Diamondbacks a 5-0 lead.

“Not his best stuff tonight,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “The walks there in the second killed him. Some traffic in the first inning, he wasn’t able to pitch around it.”

That was it for Smith, following a season-low two innings and 64 pitches.

“We thought at that point it was a good decision to move on and give our bullpen a shot at keeping it close,” Venable said.

“It’s part of doing everything we can to win a game. Pushing him there, regardless of where he’s at in his career, goes against the spirit of doing the best thing for the team, the best thing for the player. It was an easy decision to move on.”

Smith tied his season-high with five earned runs to go along with four hits, two walks, two strikeouts and a home run. He also gave up five earned runs in his last start, meaning that 10 of his 28 earned runs this season have come in his last two outings. He said he tried to make adjustments after his last start against the Cardinals and that his stuff felt good on Monday, he just wasn’t around the zone.

“He’s in a good spot physically, mentally. I think it’s just a long season and a guy who’s continuing to battle through his first major league season,” Venable said. “He’s not going to be perfect every outing. It’s on him to figure out how to get through some of these starts without his best stuff.”

Smith had an extra day of rest before his starts against the Astros and Cardinals, but he went back to the typical five days of rest going into Monday’s start. Prior to his start against St. Louis, he mentioned he could have done a better job of adjusting his routine.

“I think I felt better this week than last week,” Smith said. “It didn’t feel as long. I think I paced stuff out better during the week. But yea, I think I could have made an adjustment there, but obviously didn’t.”

Smith is up to 74.2 innings in his rookie season after Monday’s start, not far off his career-high of 94.1 innings in 2024 while pitching in Double-A and Triple-A for the Milwaukee Brewers’ minor league system. Venable and general manager Chris Getz have mentioned managing innings with some of the younger pitchers this season, but there’s no current plan to do that with Smith.

“Not right now,” Venable said. “We’re taking this one rotation cycle at a time to figure out the best thing to manage workload and do the best we can to keep these guys in good spots. Right now, that’s not something we’re discussing.”