White Sox to throw another young arm at Tigers (Sep 17, 2017)
DETROIT -- The Chicago White Sox will test another one of their young pitchers Sunday when they send right-hander Dylan Covey out to face the fading Detroit Tigers.
Covey (0-5, 7.90 ERA) makes his 10th start of the season but first of his career against Detroit. It is also his second start since coming off the disabled list Aug. 15 after recovery from a strained left oblique.
The Tigers counter with left-hander Matthew Boyd (5-10, 5.75 ERA), who makes his ninth career start against the White Sox.
Covey, 26, still without a win in the majors, walked three Kansas City batters in the first inning of his last start before giving up a grand slam to Brandon Moss.
"He gave up runs early, it was the first inning," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "Four runs I think it was.
"He did a really nice job of settling down and taking control of the game from that point on. It could have been very easily a situation where a starter gives up runs early, the opposing club continues to chip away and he gives up more runs and you end up going into your bullpen.
"I think he gave up four runs in the first, came back out and started attacking the strike zone, kept working and I think he worked through six innings approximately. And ate up some innings, and minimized the damage. He was able to keep us out of our own bullpen, still keep us in the game and give us an opportunity to see if we could strike back."
Covey did not allow a run and gave up only one hit over his final 5 1/3 innings in that game.
Boyd allowed only one run in five innings during his last start but Detroit was in the process of getting shut out twice in a row at Cleveland.
The southpaw has never beaten the White Sox, going 0-4 with a 6.13 ERA against Chicago. He recently simplified his motion and sped up his pace, and those moves have made him a better pitcher.
Detroit has a massive bullpen, thanks to September callups, but even it is being taxed by the starters' inability to get into the sixth inning.
The Tigers are 3-13 in September and only twice have they had a starter go six innings, the second coming Friday night with Anibal Sanchez's 11-strikeout effort.
"When you get down by six in the first two innings, it is always going to be hard to get back into the game,'' Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. "We did make it closer, but that means holding them off for another seven innings. That's always going to be tough."
He was referencing Saturday's 10-4 loss, in which Chicago scored twice in the first and four times in the second.
"There are going to be growing pains," Ausmus said. "Young players make mistakes, and we have a lot of them right now."
