Covey exits early with hip injury in White Sox's 7-6 loss to A's

Dylan Covey has pitched surprisingly well since joining the Chicago White Sox's rotation in late May.

The question now is, when will the right-hander make his next start?

In Saturday afternoon's 7-6 loss to the Oakland A's at Guaranteed Rate Field. Covey walked Matt Joyce leading off the fifth inning. After going 2-1 to the next hitter, Jonathan Lucroy, the right-hander exited the game with right hip soreness.

"After the fourth (inning), I threw a pitch," Covey said. "I don't remember what the play was. I was kind of jogging off the mound. It felt funny. It didn't hurt really. I sat down and came out for the fifth and it kind of cooled down a little bit and I could feel it in my warmups.

"My drag (right) leg was not really painful, but nagging me. I was bracing every pitch for something. It was affecting the quality of my pitches."

Manager Rick Renteria and trainer Herm Schneider came to the mound after Covey fell behind Lucroy and didn't wait long to make a pitching change.

"It made no sense to leave him out there because you can irritate that even more," Renteria said. "If it's mild, better for us and it should be quick. But tomorrow will be the day when we know more."

The White Sox jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, with Tim Anderson delivering the key hit on a 3-run homer.

"It was a birthday gift to myself, I guess," said Anderson, who turned 25 Saturday. "It was a good pitch, though. I was able to handle it and drive it out of the park."

Oakland managed to erase the early deficit, and the Athletics scored the deciding run in the eighth inning.

With two outs, Stephen Piscotty hit a routine flyball to right field that Avisail Garcia lost in the sun. Piscotty wound up on second base with a double and he scored on Nick Martini's first major-league hit, a single.

"He didn't see it," Renteria said of Garcia. "Everybody was trying to communicate and point it out. Once he recognized where he was at, he kind of spun out a little bit and wasn't able to recover. He just lost it in the sky."

On assignment:

Miguel Gonzalez has not pitched for the White Sox since April 17 due to right rotator cuff inflammation.

The 34-year-old starter finally sees a return in sight.

On Sunday, Gonzalez is scheduled to make his first rehab start with Class AAA Charlotte.

"Very excited," he said.

Gonzalez said he'll need "three or four" starts in the minor leagues before he's ready to return to the Sox.

"I need to get ready, make sure that everything's OK for me to come back and be able to compete up here," Gonzalez said.