Another Peavy injury in Sox' 7-3 loss to Tigers
It was another very tough — and telling — loss for the White Sox on Sunday.
Even as manager Ozzie Guillen tried to lighten things up in the postgame clubhouse by telling Adam Dunn's oldest son to take his slumping father in the hot tub and “drown his bleep,” the mood was somber.
What started as such a promising game against the Detroit Tigers before a crowd of 25,149 at U.S. Cellular Field ended with a familiar thud.
And a 7-3 loss.
And — last but not least — yet another injury to Sox starting pitcher Jake Peavy.
After he struck out the side in the first inning and held a potent Detroit lineup without a hit through three, it looked like Peavy would easily protect the 2-0 lead the White Sox gave him in the bottom of the first.
Alas, it was not to be.
You can blame Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez for failing to turn a fairly routine double play in the fourth inning, which really opened the door for the Tigers.
But the play was not made, and Peavy wound up yielding 6 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in the fourth before exiting the game with a strained right groin.
The 30-year-old pitcher will be re-evaluated Monday, but it's pretty safe to assume Peavy is going to miss at least a start, likely more.
“I mean, with the way I feel now and the way I felt when I came out of the game, I think it'd be hard for this thing to just go away,” said Peavy, who didn't debut for the White Sox this season until May 11 after nearly 10 months recovering from a detached lat muscle.
“We've got amazing technology and equipment, but I think (missing his next start), it'd be a pretty safe bet,” Peavy added. “I can feel it when I walk, so I can't imagine in four days or five days from now it being completely gone where I can go out and drive off a mound and pitch in a game.
“That's just me, but certainly nothing's etched in stone.”
In what certainly figures to trigger the latest round of disbelief, Peavy said the groin problem initially surfaced at Fenway Park during his last start.
“It started to tighten up in Boston,” Peavy admitted. “Just throughout that start was tight. We just treated it.
“I didn't think much of it and today, after the second inning, it was grabbing me pretty bad. Bad enough for me to come down and us to do a wrap job and try to take a couple of Tylenol.”
Peavy should have left the game after running to cover first base on the missed double play early in the fourth inning and turning tightness into a strain. Instead, he stayed in the game and was tagged by the Tigers.
“I don't know what to say,” Peavy said. “I'm frustrated as you can imagine. I felt so good to start the game and then to have something nagging to turn into what it turned into, to cause me to come out of the game and let alone to not be able to make pitches to even give my team a chance to win today when I really felt I had it … today could have been a special day and I could have gone out and helped this team win.”
Instead, he stayed in too long and cost the Sox a costly loss.
Not too smart, Jake.