The White Sox bounced back from their two-game losing streak with their 2-0 win at home against Cleveland. However, this victory may have come at the cost of Aaron Bummer, one of the biggest weapons out of the pen.
Aaron Bummer got paid this offseason by the White Sox brass, five years with a 16 million extension. Bummer well deserved the contract as the best reliever for the White Sox last season. After 58 relief appearances, Bummer managed to earn a 2.13ERA 1SV 60K .99WHIP. It was a smart move by the White Sox to lock him up along with the other young talent on this team.
Bummer came into Friday night’s game with the White Sox holding onto a 1-0 lead in the top of the 6th. From the time he stepped onto the mound, it was not a prototypical Bummer inning. He ended the 6th inning with a much needed double play after giving up a hit and a walk. Bummer came out for the top of the 7th and got two groundouts to start and then let up a walk to Delino DeShields. After an error on a pitch hit, Bummer called to be taken out of the game.
Aaron Bummer left the game with what the White Sox later reported as bicep soreness. In the post-game, Chuck Garfien speculated that his bicep could be cramping, which would be great news to hear. I am cautiously optimistic that Bummer will return to the bullpen without incident. The injury bug already walloped the White Sox, it would be devastating to lose their best reliever as well.
Evan Marshall and Alex Colome completed the shutout and got the White Sox a much-needed win at home. More importantly, they put the White Sox back into 2nd place for the division, behind the Twins. The mighty Twins also went down on Friday night, which helped the White Sox come even closer.
Dylan Cease earned his second victory (5IP 0ER 2H 5BB 4K 99PC 1W). Even though his control was quite erratic, he did make a lot of big pitches to get the big outs needed in the pitcher’s duel the White Sox and Cleveland had on Friday night.
The White Sox offense has been grounded since they got back home. The team needs to step it up with missing big bats like Tim Anderson and Edwin Encarnacion. Even without those two, the team should be scoring anywhere from 3-6 runs per game. Anderson could be back as soon as Monday and Encarnacion is day-to-day. But the pitching staff cannot hold up without the team scoring runs like everybody knows they can.
The White Sox have not announced who will be the starting pitcher in Saturday’s game. My guess would be Ross Detwiler; the White Sox have used him as a spot starter for the past two seasons. Detwiler (1-0 0ERA 5Apperances 8.1IP 2H 0ER 0BB 7K .24WHIP) has been a revelation in the pen this season. My only reservation is that it may interfere with what he has going as a reliever.
Cleveland will be sending out Zach Plesac to the mound. The last time Plesac graced the mound against the White Sox, he was dominant in every way (8IP 3H 0ER 0BB 11K ND). The White Sox’ bats need to come alive tomorrow afternoon and stay hot. With the White Sox pitching staff about to lose another arm, the offense needs to be what leads the team to the promised land. There is no time like the present to exact some revenge on Mr. Plesac tomorrow afternoon.