Clock continues to tick on Sox starter Dallas Keuchel
Lance Lynn is off to Class AAA Charlotte this weekend to begin a rehab assignment.
When his right knee is likely deemed good to go in a few weeks, he'll be back with the White Sox and before long will probably be back at the top end of the rotation.
At some point in June, the Sox are going to have Lynn, Lucas Giolito (3-1, 2.63 ERA), Michael Kopech (1-1, 1.29), Dylan Cease (4-2, 4.24) and Johnny Cueto (12 scoreless innings in 2 starts) as their starting five.
Potentially, that's one of the top rotations in baseball.
"If we have an embarrassment of pitching riches, that's a problem I look forward to dealing with," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn.
For now, Dallas Keuchel is still starting for the Sox.
The 34-year-old lefty showed flashes of his former self earlier this month, giving up only 2 earned runs over 11 innings in back-to-back starts against the Red Sox in Boston and the Yankees at home.
Keuchel was hit hard by the Yankees in New York on Saturday, and he was shelled again in Thursday night's start against the Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. In a game that ran 4 hours, 2 minutes and featured infielder Josh Harrison pitching the ninth inning, the White Sox lost to the Red Sox 16-7.
Kike Hernandez set the tone for the visitors, lining Keuchel's second pitch of the game over the left-field fence for a home run.
Keuchel gave up 3 runs in the first inning and his night was over after he allowed 3 more runs in the second.
With an ERA that has ballooned to 7.88, Keuchel's rotation spot is in obvious jeopardy.
He's either heading to the bullpen, leaving in a trade or a candidate to be released. Keuchel is in the final year of his contract and he's carrying an $18 million salary this season.
"That's very disappointing," Keuchel said of his outing. "Just upset that I'm putting a lot of innings the last two games on our relievers. Pace of play has been pretty atrocious as well. I'm not used to 4-hour games. If I do get beat up, I'm going to get beat up in a timely fashion."
Seemingly out of the game after Boston raced out to a 6-0 lead, Andrew Vaughn single-handedly tried getting them back in.
Coming in with a seven-game hitting streak, Vaughn doubled with the bases loaded to cut the Red Sox's lead to 6-3 in the third inning.
In the fifth, he added a 2-run homer off Boston starter Michael Wacha, who took the mound with a 1.76 ERA.
"Good night or bad night, we didn't come out on top," Vaughn said. "That's always going to sting."
The White Sox cut the Red Sox's lead to 7-5 thanks to Vaughn, but that was as close as they'd get.
"He got us back in the game by himself," manager Tony La Russa said. "We just couldn't get over the hump and add some more runs."