Chicago White Sox right-hander David Sandlin expects his major league debut Wednesday to be “surreal” no matter the result.
White Sox fans likely would relish it more if Sandlin helps the club get back into the win column against the visiting Minnesota Twins.
After losing 5-3 in 11 innings on Tuesday, the White Sox will aim to secure the third game of the four-game set against their American League Central division rival on Wednesday.
Sandlin, a 6-foot-4 rookie acquired in a February trade with the Boston Red Sox that also netted reliever Jordan Hicks, was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday. Rookie lefty Noah Schultz (right knee patellar tendinitis) was placed on the 15-day injured list in a corresponding move.
White Sox manager Will Venable said the team will push back the rest of the starting rotation by one day. Sandlin, who was 0-0 with an ERA of 0.55 in six starts covering 16 1/3 innings at Charlotte, threw 71 pitches over four innings on May 20.
“Maybe not fully stretched out, but to the point that we feel confident he can go out there and pitch in a starter’s role,” Venable said. “Probably not expecting him, unless it goes really well, to pitch into the sixth or seventh inning, but can go out there and take a starter’s load.”
Minnesota relied on a big night from Brooks Lee (2-for-5, three RBIs) and a bullpen that delivered 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball to even the series on Tuesday.
Winning pitcher Taylor Rogers, who retired White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami on a double-play ground ball to escape trouble in the 10th, credited the tutelage of bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins, who has stressed the basics.
Chief among them: Throwing first-pitch strikes.
“We’re trying to find ways where, how do we get strike one best? What’s our best strike pitch? Is the hitter aggressive? Does he have a tendency to take offspeed low? You know, those type of things,” Rogers said. “I think that’s just a little edge we can gain on the scouting side of things.”
The Twins are 4-1 to begin a 10-game road trip and have won five of six overall.
“The resiliency of this club and the fact that they play 27 outs — or 33 outs — really proud of them,” Minnesota manager Derek Shelton said, referencing 33 outs in the extra-inning game.
Rookie Connor Prielipp (1-2, 4.03) is set to start for the Twins. The left-hander is coming off Friday’s no-decision at Boston, when he allowed six runs (five earned) and seven hits in four innings. He had three walks against one strikeout.
While Prielipp allowed career highs in hits, runs and earned runs, he stopped a three-start streak of yielding a homer as the Red Sox won 8-6.
Murakami, who smacked his AL-leading 19th home run to tie the game at 2 in the eighth inning on Tuesday, looms as an early challenge. Murakami has homered in the first two games of the series.
Chicago infielders Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery had two hits apiece Tuesday. Meidroth has multi-hit efforts in two straight games and three of the past six.
–Field Level Media
