This would have been a nice night to have Michael Kopech start. Or Carlos Rodon. Or Dylan Cease. Or even Dylan Covey.
But a combination of injuries and, in Cease’s case, slightly delayed development resulted in White Sox manager Rick Renteria handing the ball to Odrisamer Despaigne. Wait, who?
The 32-year-old journeyman pitched OK on Monday against the Nationals in his Sox debut, allowing three runs in six innings. But Sox hitters couldn’t do enough to make it a game, and the bullpen was brutal. Leury Garcia’s sixth-inning homer accounted for the only offense in a 12-1 defeat.
James McCann had two hits, boosting his average to .329. Yoan Moncada singled in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to 11 games but left the game a half-inning later with upper-back tightness. He is day to day.
“He felt it when he was running,” Renteria said. “He was having a tough time breathing.”
Moncada called it “nothing serious,” saying he felt discomfort during his final at-bat.
Nationals right fielder Adam Eaton had a big game in his return to the South Side. Swapped after the 2016 season for pitchers Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning, Eaton went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI single.
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