White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon faced a pivotal moment in the second inning.
He was close to getting out of the inning after Luis Urias flew into a 7-4-3 double play after a single by Miguel Andujar. Cannon forced Gio Urshela into a softly hit grounder that Lenyn Sosa fielded cleanly, but he made an error on the throw to first.
After walking Max Muncy in a 10-pitch at-bat, Cannon regrouped and struck out Lawrence Butler on four pitches.
Cannon has found himself in this situation plenty of times this season. His problem has been an inability to put away hitters, which prevents him from going deep into starts.
He got out of that jam but left after 4 ⅓ scoreless innings and 88 pitches in the Sox’ 3-1 loss to the Athletics before 10,411 fans at Rate Field. It was their third loss in a row.
“The last couple of weeks, I’ve put a little too much pressure on myself [with] guys in scoring position; end up running the pitch count up really quick,” Cannon said. “I was able to get that soft groundball right away and then a really good strikeout there; just taking it one pitch at a time.”
The game was tied 1-1 entering the sixth before the bullpen allowed three runs (two charged to left-hander Tyler Gilbert and one to right-hander Jordan Leasure). Brooks Baldwin hit a solo home run in the third for the Sox’ lone run.
After Baldwin struck out to lead off the seventh, the Sox threatened after a double by Sosa and walks to Omar Narvaez and Nick Maton that followed a lineout by Miguel Vargas. Luis Robert Jr. was up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs. But instead of a game-changing swing, he hit a soft grounder off a fastball out of the zone to end the inning. The Sox were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Cannon’s performance wasn’t outstanding, but it was an improvement. In his fourth start, he allowed three hits and two walks and struck out four; it was progress after allowing six runs in his last outing.
“Cannon was great,” manager Will Venable said. “He did a good job attacking the zone. He was able to put guys away and end at-bats. The little trouble he got into he was able to work through.”
Limiting walks also worked for Cannon. He felt his command was good in his last start against the Guardians — six runs, seven hits, three walks in 5⅓ innings — but the walks hurt him and lengthened his innings.
Cannon now has to find a way to merge his stuff with his command to prove to the Sox he’s worth keeping as the rebuild progresses. He and Narvaez were able to work together to minimize damage on Wednesday with a sound game plan.
“Me and Narvaez were just on the same page the whole time,” Cannon said. “I thought we did a really good job of pitching in and out of traffic. It was just good to throw up some zeros there, see some zeros on the board; just get back on track.”
Thursday marks a year since Cannon made his MLB debut. He said the experience has been a blur for him. Situations like the second inning on Wednesday are proof of Cannon’s improvement.
“The learning curve that [the majors] have been has been great,” Cannon said. “It’s been a lot at once … but just trying to take the blows and get better every single outing.”