With a chance to win just their fifth series of the season, the Chicago White Sox will turn to right-hander Drew Thorpe to make his second major league start in Sunday afternoon’s rubber game of a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
The 6-foot-4 Thorpe (0-0, 1.80 ERA), who was obtained in a spring training deal with San Diego that sent right-hander Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres, was MLB Pipeline’s minor league Pitching Prospect of the Year in 2023.
Thorpe, 23, made his major league debut Tuesday at Seattle and allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits over five innings while walking two and striking out four. He left with a 3-2 lead in his team’s 4-3 loss.
Still, Thorpe made a good impression on Chicago manager Pedro Grifol.
“They don’t chase much, and he did a good job pounding the strike zone, especially with his secondary pitches,” Grifol said. “He used every single pitch, fielded extremely well. Gave us a chance to win.”
Thorpe threw 98 pitches, 61 for strikes. Thirty-eight of his pitches were changeups, including one to Julio Rodriguez in the first inning that resulted in his first big league strikeout.
“He’s a strike-thrower, he’s a competitor,” Grifol said of Thorpe. “He’s got a plus-plus plus changeup. He knows how to pitch, he’s calm and had a really good demeanor.”
The product of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was 7-1 with a 1.35 ERA at Double-A Birmingham when he got the call-up, bypassing the Triple-A level.
Thorpe will try to help the White Sox accomplish something they haven’t done since May 14-15: win a series. Chicago, a major league worst 19-53, took two of three games from the Washington Nationals over that two-day span, just its fourth series win of the season.
On Sunday, left-hander Jordan Montgomery (4-4, 6.58 ERA) will start for Arizona. Montgomery is 2-0 with a 2.20 ERA in five career starts against the White Sox but has struggled against light-hitting catcher Martin Maldonado (.086 average) who has three hits in four career at-bats — including two home runs — and three RBIs off of Montgomery.
Arizona won the series opener 7-1 Friday behind the pitching of Ryne Nelson, who allowed one run on six hits over six innings while striking out eight. The Diamondbacks got home runs from Joc Pederson and Eugenio Suarez.
But Chicago evened the series with a 9-2 victory on Saturday night, tying a season high for runs scored in a game while hitting four homers. Starter Erick Fedde improved to 5-1, allowing two runs on eight hits over six innings while striking out six.
It was just the seventh win in 37 road games for the White Sox. Arizona fell to 1-32 this season when trailing by two or more runs in a game.
“We just got beat tonight,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said Saturday. “I thought they outpitched us. Their starting pitcher was very effective. Their offense got moving in a very positive direction. They were slugging, they drew walks, they had 12 hits.”
Lovullo said he didn’t want his team, which had a modest two-game winning streak snapped, to dwell on the loss.
“We’ve just got to flush it,” Lovullo said. “We’ve got to come out here tomorrow and be ready to play a game.”
–Field Level Media
