PHOENIX -- Chris Flexen left last night's game with a 5.35 ERA, so the White Sox do not necessarily profile as a team too overloaded with starting pitching to be contained by a five-man rotation.
But Pedro Grifol did not dismiss a six-man slate as a possibility, as the team continues adding depth starters to their bullpen, with Chad Kuhl being the most recent. The impetus for such a move would be Mike Clevinger's return. After receiving a cortisone shot for his bothersome pitching elbow, Clevinger threw two simulated innings on Friday and is scheduled to make a 60-pitch rehab outings with Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday. He'll follow that with another Triple-A outing on Sunday and would be due to return to the White Sox afterward.
The other side of such a maneuver is that the Sox are continuously on the hunt for extra rest for Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to next pitch on Wednesday against the Astros--on five days rest. When the Sox are able to give Crochet extra rest, they are more amenable to his pleas to push for a seventh inning to extend his pitch count to triple digits.
In either scenario, speaking with Brian Bannister pregame Saturday made it very clear that he's extremely high on Jonathan Cannon, whom they believe is successfully adding vertical drop to his changeup that is going to make him more viable against left-handers.
--Andrew Benintendi will be getting some nights off here and there as the White Sox ramp him up from his Achilles tendinitis. Saturday is one such night. No, it's not performance-related.
--John Brebbia has struck out 12 of 25 batters faced in June, and allowed a single run in 6 1/3 innings this month. Pitching coach Ethan Katz determined he was previously raising his glove arm too high in his delivery, and that it was altering his timing and command.
"The biggest thing is that it just feels more normal," Brebbia said. "It doesn't feel like I'm trying to reach for pitch shapes or trying to reach for velocity, or trying to reach for whatever it may be, a target. I'm just kind of throwing. If you asked me to try to throw the ball 500 miles and I said 'Ok, I'll try,' I would throw it like that."
First Pitch: White Sox at Diamondbacks
TV: NBC Sports Chicago, FS1
Lineups:
| White Sox | Diamondbacks | |
|---|---|---|
| Tommy Pham, RF | 1 | Corbin Carroll, CF |
| Andrew Vaughn, 1B | 2 | Ketel Marte, 2B |
| Luis Robert Jr., CF | 3 | Joc Pederson, DH |
| Paul DeJong, SS | 4 | Christian Walker, 1B |
| Corey Julks, LF | 5 | Lourdes Gurriel Jr., LF |
| Korey Lee, C | 6 | Jake McCarthy, RF |
| Lenyn Sosa, 3B | 7 | Eugenio Suárez, 3B |
| Danny Mendick, 2B | 8 | Gabriel Moreno, C |
| Martín Maldonado, C | 9 | Geraldo Perdomo, SS |
| Erick Fedde | SP | Scott McGough |
