Three strikes, Jonathan Cannon is out.
For a little while, at least.
After three rough outings, Cannon was sent to Triple-A Charlotte on Friday to cure what has led to a 13.50 ERA in his last 12 innings.
“We felt like it was a good time to give him a breather,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “He’d been fighting himself a little bit, searching, so we view it as an opportunity to get his confidence back.
“He’s a guy that needs to attack the zone. He has an ability to get quick early contact, but he got away from that approach. His pitch counts were getting high, he wasn’t as productive, so we’ve got some things to work on.
“He’s still very early in his career, and we believe in him. We’ve seen an extended period of time being a successful starter. He needs to go down there and get to work, and I’m sure he’ll be back here before he knows it.”
The 25-year-old right-hander, in his second big-league season, was hit particularly hard in his most recent start. He allowed seven runs and four hits, walked three and got only five outs against the Mariners on Wednesday.
That followed back-to-back six-run outings against the Rays and Phillies, a disturbing-enough trend to force the Sox to send Cannon to Charlotte.
“It’s a chance for Jonathan to take a deep breath and then find [himself],” Getz said. “It’s really hard at the major-league level when you start searching. When you go down to Triple-A, the game slows down. It’s a different pace to it. Oftentimes, you can just lose yourself at the major-league level. You go back down, and [you realize], ‘Oh, this is what I can do.’
“I hope he views it as an opportunity. I know he was disappointed, but he understood. We still believe in him, of course, and that’s why we made the move. We know there’s a better version of Jonathan Cannon than what we’ve seen here recently.”
The Sox will turn to left-handed reliever Tyler Alexander to handle the bulk of the innings the next time they get to Cannon’s spot in the rotation.
Schultz, Smith to Fall League
Lefties Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, two of the Sox’ highest-rated prospects, will pitch in the Arizona Fall League later this year, Getz said.
Schultz has put up ugly numbers since being promoted to Charlotte in the middle of June — a sky-high 11.91 ERA in 11⅓ innings across three starts. He followed that up with his second bad Futures Game outing in as many years, allowing four runs and only getting two outs. He hasn’t pitched in a game since because of a knee injury.
Smith hasn’t fared much better at Double-A Birmingham after a long layoff that lasted most of May and almost all of June. He has a 5.18 ERA, 17 walks and 33 strikeouts in 24⅓ innings in his last seven starts.
Civale crushed, Tauchman tossed
Aaron Civale’s three-start scoreless streak ended Friday. The Guardians tagged him for nine runs in the Sox’ 9-5 loss.
Right fielder Mike Tauchman earned his first career ejection for slamming his helmet off home plate after the third-base umpire ruled he failed to check his swing, which ended the sixth inning with the bases loaded.