White Sox right fielder Mike Tauchman was scratched before Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to the Tigers with a sore right shoulder and was replaced by Brooks Baldwin.
Manager Will Venable said he doesn’t know when the injury occurred, but noted that Tauchman’s injury had been bothering him the past couple of days. Tauchman is day-to-day and will continue to be evaluated.
“He’s able to swing, just wasn’t to the point where we could put him in a game,” Venable said. “So we’ll see where he’s at, continue to get rehab treatment throughout the day and see where it’s at.”
Losing Tauchman is a blow for a Sox team that entered Wednesday with the third-most runs scored in the second half (130). Tauchman is batting .277/.371/.441 and has been a steadying presence at the top of the Sox’ lineup.
Designated hitter Kyle Teel led off for the Sox (44-77) on Wednesday.
Smith stacking outings
All-Star Shane Smith is starting to regain the consistency that he displayed earlier in the season.
Smith threw five shutout innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out five.
And, more importantly, Smith went five innings, providing length that a Sox team desperately needed after back-to-back bullpen games.
But the Sox offense couldn’t generate much traffic on the bases in Wednesday’s loss against the Tigers, the team’s 27th one-run loss. The Sox fell to 7-22 against the Tigers since 2023.
Venable said the message pregame was to be ready for right-hander Troy Melton’s four-seamer and sinker, but the Sox were consistently late, leading to 14 foul balls off Melton, who threw five scoreless innings on just 56 pitches.
“We saw a lot of foul balls, a lot of 1-2, 0-2 counts where he just beat us in the zone,” Venable said. “Extremely aggressive, extremely efficient. We were ready for it, just couldn’t do it and got to credit [Melton].”
The only scoring chance the Sox generated came in the fifth when Luis Robert Jr. hit a leadoff double. Andrew Benintendi, Miguel Vargas and Edgar Quero all proceeded to strike out to end the inning.
The Sox totaled two hits, walked once and struck out nine times.While the offense was listless, Smith continued the solid stretch he’s been on since the All-Star break.
Smith kept the Sox in the game by leaning on his fastball, which generated eight whiffs. Smith said he made a mechanical change with his stance and that he’s getting the feel back for his changeup and curveball. He’s allowed two runs or fewer in all three of his starts.
Finishing the season strong will be paramount for Smith. He’s reached a new career high in innings pitched (101.0), and his velocity is still hovering around his yearly averages.
“[I] want to finish this year strong and throw as many innings as I can, just build up as much workload,” Smith said. “But to get over 100 [innings] feels good.”
Roster moves
Roster moves
Roster moves
The Sox returned left-hander Martin Perez from his injury rehab at Double-A Birmingham and reinstated him from the 60-day injured list.
Roster moves
Perez (left flexor strain) had been on the IL since April.
Roster moves
• Left-hander Jared Shuster was designated for assignment.
Roster moves
• Left-hander Cam Booser was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.