White Sox offense no help to Peavy
The White Sox made a roster move following Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
To clear a spot for John Danks, left-handed relief pitcher Hector Santiago was optioned back to Class AA Birmingham.
Santiago earned the right to return to the Sox in September, if not sooner, by making 2 appearances and pitching 5 scoreless innings.
Danks is scheduled to come off the disabled list after straining his right oblique during a June 25 start against the Washington Nationals.
Here is some advice for the left-hander as he prepares for Wednesday night’s start against Kansas City — don’t make too many mistakes.
The White Sox’ offense still is offering spotty run support at best, and Tuesday was another prime example.
With starter Jake Peavy doing a really good Freddy Garcia impression, a sign that he’s still not close to 100 percent, the Sox spotted the right-hander to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against left-handed rookie Danny Duffy.
Duffy hit leadoff man Juan Pierre and walked Alexei Ramirez, and both runners scored on RBI singles from Carlos Quentin and Alex Rios.
But even though Duffy was laboring on a very warm night in K.C. — he threw 64 pitches through the first three innings — the White Sox’ offense was silent after the early uprising.
It has been the same story long before Danks went on the DL. There still are way too many easy outs in the Sox’ lineup. No offense to Duffy, he pitched well and showed why he’s one of the Royals’ top pitching prospects.
Still, Duffy was facing a lineup that has only one .300 hitter, Paul Konerko.
“The first inning, I thought we had an opportunity to do more,” manager Ozzie Guillen told reporters. “All of the sudden, this kid started to throw strikes. He was good. The kid threw the ball very well.”
As for Peavy, he threw much better than he did in his previous 3 starts when he allowed 14 earned runs on 23 hits over 16⅓ innings. But Peavy wasn’t his usual self, relying more on off-speed pitches with a fastball that barely broke 90 mph.
Peavy hung in the best he could, but the Royals took the lead for good in the sixth inning when Matt Treanor’s 2-run single put the Royals in front 3-2.
In the White Sox’ 3 wins since the all-star break, Gavin Floyd, Edwin Jackson and Mark Buehrle all emerged with wins by going deeper and allowing fewer than the 3 runs Peavy gave up in 6 innings.
“Jake, I’m not going to say he threw the ball outstanding, but he fought through it,” Guillen said. “I think he threw the ball good enough and gave the team a chance.”
Just to be on the safe side, Danks might want to try emulating Jackson when he returns to the mound Wednesday night.
At Detroit on Saturday, Jackson threw a complete-game shutout. Anything less than that and the Sox are 50-50 at best to come away victorious.
sgregor@dailyherald.com