​Will Venable is the front-runner to be voted the American League Manager of the Year.His Chicago White Sox players credit him with creating a winning culture, and his bosses, general manager Chris Getz and Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, believe the rebuild was fast-forwarded by his hiring in 2024.But Venable’s gaffe on Friday at Rate Field — forcing starter Noah Schultz out of the game in the first inning by inadvertently making the team’s second mound appearance — was something he knew he’d have to wear for a while.“Inexcusable,” he admitted afterward, a valid criticism that many Sox fans agreed with.Before Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians in a nationally televised game on Ozzie Guillén’s number retirement night, I asked Venable if he was able to shake it off like he did after a bad game as a player.“Not easy to shake off at all,” he said. “Still working on that.”Did he sleep OK?“No! I did not sleep OK,” he said, raising his voice while laughing.Are you OK now?“No! But that’s OK,” he said. “We’ve got a game to play and that’s the thing I appreciate about our group is I’m not perfect, the players aren’t perfect, we’re all going to make mistakes.“That was an awful mistake yesterday and one that I’ll own and probably lose sleep over for a couple more nights. But we’ve got a game to play and we’re excited about that. That’s what this league is about. You’ve got to dust yourself off and get back up and go to battle. So that’s what we’re going to do.”Consider Venable dusted off, at least for now.The Sox rallied with a five-run sixth inning to snap a four-game losing streak, moving three games ahead of the Guardians and Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.Rhys Hoskins’ two-run, sixth-inning home run off Anthony Kay gave the Guardians a brief lead, and Gavin Williams held them to one hit over five innings. But the Sox broke through in their half of the sixth on Munetaka Murakami’s solo home run off Williams and a pair of two-run hits by Tristan Peters and Chase Meidroth against reliever Colin Holderman.The bullpen did the rest, with Bryan Hudson and Grant Taylor pitching the final two innings.“We needed that one,” Venable said. “I don’t think there are two ways about it. It was a great game, especially to come back there against Gavin Williams, who continues to be really hard to score upon.”The pomp and ceremony of Guillén’s number retirement before Saturday’s game managed to somewhat dull the pain of Friday’s loss, Venable’s gaffe and the last-minute cancellation of Ja Rule’s postgame concert, which made a bad night worse for a few thousand hip-hop fans who only came for the music.The Sox brought up top pitching prospects Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal from Triple-A Charlotte, bringing some more youth to the bullpen while giving the media something else to write about, and sending Schultz and David Sandlin back to the minors.A sellout crow