Jonathan Cannon is about to fire again.
The Sox right-hander will make his return from the injured list Sunday and will start the series finale against the Giants.
Cannon began the season as one of the Sox’ cadre of young, relatively inexperienced hurlers trying to carve out a spot in the rebuilding team’s long-term future. But he has been on the IL since June 3 with a back strain.
He’ll return Sunday after making a rehab start with Triple-A Charlotte last week, throwing 48 pitches in three innings (and a handful more in the bullpen), allowing a hit and a walk with a couple strikeouts.
“This was a minor hiccup,” Cannon said. “I’ve been good in my pro career about taking care of my body and making every start. Things come up, things you don’t want to come up, but we moved past this as fast as possible.
‘‘I’ve progressed a lot faster than some of the doctors or even the trainers maybe thought, and we were a little ahead of schedule.”
Cannon posted a 4.66 ERA through 12 appearances before hitting the IL, a trip that came several outings after he started feeling some discomfort in his back, which he said popped up while making a play in the field during a May 13 victory against the Reds.
“That was the first time I felt it,” he said. “It was one of those things where it kept progressing, getting a little bit worse until I kind of did something to kind of blow it up even more, and then that was when I had to go on the IL. It was really just some rest and treatment and kind of get back to where we are at.
“But [there are] definitely some more exercises that I’ll be doing for probably the rest of my career to prevent something like this from happening again.”
As the Sox’ rebuild rolls on, the focus remains on how the rotation of the future will shake out and who among the current big-league starters will wind up on that staff.
Cannon has as good a case to make as any. He’s a former second-rounder who has turned in some impressive outings since arriving in the majors last season.
He boasted a 3.60 ERA after that aforementioned start against the Reds, then had three rough outings before his trip to the IL.
‘He throws fuel’
Recently promoted right-hander Grant Taylor continued to impress in Saturday’s 1-0 win against the Giants. He earned his second save, this time preserving a one-run lead by going six-up, six-down in the eighth and ninth innings.
Taylor has gained plenty of attention for his blazing fastball, and he threw a whopping 17 of them Saturday at 99 mph or faster, with seven of them hitting triple digits.
“That was nasty,” infielder Josh Rojas said. “He throws fuel. That’s fun to watch.”
Taylor, who was converted from a starter to a reliever earlier this season, has logged two innings in each of his last two appearances.
Still no Robert
Luis Robert Jr. missed a second consecutive game with a tight hamstring, which forced him to exit early from a game Wednesday against the Diamondbacks.
Robert participated in baseball activities (running and hitting) before Saturday’s game. The team still considers him day-to-day, with manager Will Venable saying putting Robert on the IL is not necessary.