Chicago White Sox outfielder Gavin Sheets was addressing a recent heel bruise when he said, “It’s going to be all pain tolerance going forward.”
Forgive an onlooker for mistaking that as a second-half forecast for the struggling White Sox and Colorado Rockies, who meet in the opener of a three-game series Friday in Chicago.
At .265 and .338, respectively, the White Sox and Rockies sport the lowest winning percentages in baseball.
Chicago stopped a four-game losing streak with a 1-0 win against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday, while Colorado has dropped three in a row.
The White Sox hope their first 1-0 home victory since Aug. 10, 2018, can propel them into a series that offers the chance at some much-coveted momentum.
Chicago (at Cleveland) and the Rockies (vs. Milwaukee) both will meet division leaders to open July.
Colorado is fresh after days off Monday and Thursday around a two-game series in Houston, where the Astros outscored the Rockies 12-3.
The White Sox, meanwhile, are preparing for their 11th in a string of 13 straight games without a day off. Chicago lost some idle time Thursday when Atlanta came to town to make up an April 3 rainout.
Sheets remains day-to-day for the series. X-rays were negative on the heel injury that forced him out of a 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.
His second-inning double marked Chicago’s only extra-base hit against L.A. rookie right-hander Gavin Stone in a four-hit shutout.
“Just jammed the heel a little bit,” Sheets said. “Tests have come back pretty good. MRIs and X-rays and stuff, so that’s a positive.”
Luis Robert Jr. collected two of Chicago’s four hits Thursday and provided the game’s lone run with a solo homer against Chris Sale in the first inning.
“We all know that he’s a really tough pitcher and I went in there trying to look for a pitch in the strike zone,” Robert said through an interpreter. “I was able to get one.”
In a 7-1 loss at Houston on Wednesday, Colorado picked up its only run on Brenton Doyle’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.
Ezequiel Tovar had two of the Rockies’ four hits in a game that saw Colorado strike out 14 times.
Rockies right-hander Dakota Hudson (2-10, 5.63 ERA) will oppose fellow righty and White Sox rookie Drew Thorpe (1-1, 5.02) on Friday.
Hudson has pitched to a 7.45 ERA in four June starts over 19 1/3 innings. He lasted a season-low three innings Friday in a loss to Washington, yielding eight runs on 11 hits, including two home runs, with two walks and zero strikeouts.
“I just had too many balls over the middle,” Hudson said, per The Denver Post. “I tried to figure out what I had working. Whenever I got weak contact, it was through the hole, and whenever I left it over the middle, they got barrels to it.”
Hudson is 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA in two appearances against Chicago covering 5 1/3 innings.
Thorpe is set for his White Sox home debut, having made his first three starts on the road. He picked up his first career victory on Saturday by shutting out the Detroit Tigers over six innings. Thorpe allowed two hits, walked four and struck out five.
–Field Level Media
