Winning games against teams who are running away with the division doesn’t matter a whole lot in years like this.  Keeping potential stars of your next playoff team healthy, however, is about as fundamental a goal as you might have for a season like 2017, and if a pitcher has to get injured, the throwing shoulder is about as bad as it gets.  So while it was no fun that Cleveland had scored four runs off emergency substitute Mike Pelfrey before an out was recorded, the focus of the evening was whether there would be any further Rodon news.

Unfortunately, as of this drafting, we only know that Rodon went for an MRI and we await further information.  Rodon already missed most of the season, making his debut on June 28^th, due to complaints of biceps pain, which didn’t appear to indicate any underlying structural issue.  The White Sox are excellent at maintaining arms, and have demonstrated an abundance of caution in dealing with their potential future ace, but pitcher health—or lack thereof—is a force of nature, and there’s only so much mortals can do to combat it.

Pending the results of the MRI and myriad other factors, it remains to be seen what will become of Rodon’s shoulder, his 2017 season, and beyond.

As for the rest of the game, no one the White Sox put on the mound was particularly effective.  Chris Beck had one of his better outings in some time piggybacking for Pelfrey, however, recent call up Jace Fry did not pitch as well as Rob Brantly.  Given that Brantly isn’t a pitcher, that’s somewhat troubling, although the stakes here are low and pale in comparison to the big news of the night.

In other news, Yoan Moncada went 0-for-3 with a walk.  That he lined out in the process of going 0-for-3 against Kluber did not deter some fans from launching into hysterics about how he is a bust and that the trade was a disaster.  If you give Moncada even a league average BABIP—and again, someone with his speed should have more than that, although quality of contact is certainly implicated in BABIP—his line would be something like .200/.340/.360.  Hardly world beating, but even without the luck boost, calling a 22-year-old with 151 major league plate appearances a bust when he is still posting a 15% walk rate and solid ISO is ludicrous.  Over his first 135 PAs, even Mike Trout hit .220/.281/.390 so if you are considering public declarations of doom when Moncada strikes out against Corey Kluber of all people maybe take a long walk instead.

Lead Image Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

From this side of fence, however, it looks like everyone got just about what they should have expected.

1. Kluber has killed before, and with more malice, but his six one-run innings Tuesday night were more about pulling out just what he needed, when he needed it. When Melky Cabrera ripped a two-out double down the right field line in the first inning, Kluber got Jose Abreu to pop up a slider to end the threat. When Tim Anderson pushed Justin Morneau to third with a two-out double, Kluber shut the door by whipping a vicious running fastball over the inside corner of the plate to freeze Omar Narvaez to end another. And when a two-out walk to Abreu put runners on the corners for Morneau in the third, Kluber pulled out the same trick to end it once more.

2. Three-straight innings of scoring opportunities against Kluber is more than could have been expected, and beyond a Morneau solo shot on a hanging slider in the sixth, that was all the Sox were provided. Backstroking in a luxurious pool of elite relief options these days, the Indians smoothly transitioned into three perfect innings from Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, and called it a night.

3. Jose Quintana is even less typically in fire-breathing mode than Kluber, and certainly stuck to form as unglamorous tragic hero Tuesday. He logged six innings, striking out only three while walking two, but the two runs he allowed summed up his whole simultaneously blessed but snakebit existence.

Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor rapped back-to-back doubles in the first to put the Sox in a permanent deficit, but Lindor’s hit was a dying flare to right-center gap that just barely eluded the diving grasp of capable-fourth-outfielder-turned-miscast-center-fielder J.B. Shuck.

Two innings later, Quintana issued the dreaded leadoff walk to the wrong man, Rajai Davis, but quickly corrected his mistake by sniffing out Davis’ move to steal second and picking him off. Only Abreu threw the ball high and wide of Anderson at short in the subsequent rundown, and Davis slid in safe under his delayed tag. Despite Quintana striking out Kipnis on a curve and retiring Lindor without incident, he was still punished by Mike Napoli roping a single down the left field line to knock in the runner that should not have been there.

Quintana did not have a 1-2-3 inning all night, but somehow held the Indians scoreless from that dispiriting point on.

4. In the seventh, with the game newly in doubt, the Sox turned to the verifiably poor Matt Albers; a struggling veteran who neither seems fit for high-leverage work, nor is a promising talent who needs an opportunity to gain experience, nor seems to have a future with the club beyond Oct. 2. He immediately gave up a leadoff double to catcher Roberto Perez, got a groundout from Davis, and gave way to Dan Jennings, who to his credit only fulfills two of the three of the clauses that apply to Albers. Jennings allowed hits to both the men he faced, pushing the game to 3-1, and gave way to Chris Beck, who–hey now–is actually a prospect and was kinda interesting as he struck out two over 1.2 scoreless innings.

5. Morneau upped his season line to .301/.344/.518 with his two-hit night, and has shown himself to still be competent while providing the Sox the service of a brief respite from DH aggravation. Anderson collected another walk, and now his .292 OBP is closing in on Todd Frazier‘s, who struck out in all four of his plate appearances.

After getting struck out with runners on in the second, Narvaez made two outs on two pitches for the rest of the game, so he refuses to be pigeonholed at least.

Team Record: 56-62

Next game is Wednesday at Cleveland on WPWR on 6:10pm CT

Lead Image Credit: David Richard // USA Today Sports Images

This weekend saw a few significant division rival match ups, and things were flipped upside down rather quickly. During the last iteration of Around The AL Central, (brought to you by our own Collin Whitchurch, whom I will be doing the honors for this week) the division looked like this:

Now, just a short week later and the landscape of the AL Central looks like this:

Yes, you may note that the White Sox are clinging for dear life to their status as an above .500 team, while Detroit finally made the mark. As the White Sox faced the Tigers at Comerica Park this past weekend and the Indians hosted the Royals, both visiting teams got their stuff rocked, for lack of a better term. Let’s take a look at what’s happening now with each team.

INDIANS

For the last few years, the Indians have always been the sleepers in this division, and every year I underrate them, probably due to their lack of star power with the exception of Corey Kluber, but they always tend to sneak up on the Central when we least expect it. That time is now. Their starting staff has the fourth-best ERA in the AL, most of that on the backs of Danny Salazar and Kluber, the latter of which currently has a K/9 rate of 8.92, good for eleventh in the AL, while posting a BB/9 rate of 2.03 (which for the record is higher than both Chris Sale and Jose Quintana). Kluber has struggled stranding runners on this season though, posting just a 66 percent LOB%, fifth-worst in the AL. Salazar holds a 2.24 ERA with a 10.67 K.9. His walk rate is 4.63, but he’s been a bit better than Kluber at keeping the runners on base from scoring and the ball in the yard.

The Indians hosted the Kansas City Royals this weekend for a four-game set, and they sent the Royals off to Baltimore without something that they had come to Progressive Field with — the division lead. The Indians outscored the defending World Champs a whopping 25-6, thanks to a Royals rotation that it seems can only take solace in Danny Duffy lately. The Indians didn’t see Royals closer Wade Davis all weekend after he sat out on Thursday walk-off victory, as no other save situation came up.

The real scoop on the Indians these days though, is that all the good they’re currently doing they’ll likely have to continue doing without Michael Brantley. After Jeff Passan tweeted that the Indians were “seriously concerned” about the state of Brantley’s health, Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported Monday that Indians GM Chris Antonetti addressed the situation with a little less trepidation:

Antonetti responded, “Nothing really new. We are focused on working with Michael to help him get to the point where he’s not only healthy…

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 6, 2016

“…but strong enough to make a meaningful impact on the balance of our season. We don’t have a clear timetable for that yet but are …

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 6, 2016

“…encouraged by progress he continues to make.” Keep in mind: Not in #Indians’ interest to admit concern. Would compromise trade leverage.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 6, 2016

Brantley is an important piece of the Indians offense and should he be out for a significant amount of time, it would not only effect of the AL Central race but potentially the outfielder marker at the trade deadline — a front on which the White Sox could be active. I would speculate the situation with Brantley is quite severe, but Antonetti is going to do his best to keep it under his hat for now.

Next up: The Indians are facing the Mariners for a four-game set at Safeco before continuing their West Coast road trip in Anaheim to take on the Angels. They’ll then head back to the Midwest to face the Royals again, this time at Kauffman Stadium for a three-game set to finish out their road trip.

ROYALS

Shell shocked might be a good way to describe how the Royals feel after they were swept this past weekend (The Sox have a sympathy card in the mail). The sweep simply served to underscore the subtle issues their rotation is facing. Or perhaps they’re not so subtle, with the example of Royals starter Chris Young, who gave up four home runs in the fifth inning of Sunday’s contest while struggling with his slider. The Royals  starters currently are 13th in ERA in the AL, with their rotation compiling a less than impressive 4.82 mark so far this season.

Having a strong offense is key, especially when your rotation is scuffling — something the Royals learned the hard way this weekend. The Royals have been victim to a myraid of injuries that has recently plagued their lineup, with the latest addition being third baseman Mike Moustakas, who just underwent season-ending knee surgery. Left fielder Alex Gordon is on the disabled list with a fractured wrist, and catcher Salvador Perez missed six games with a bruised thigh, finally returning to the lineup on Saturday. It goes without saying, that yes, as much as the rotation for the Royals is not the best, being as banged up as they have been has not aided the situation either.

Next Up: A true test of the Royals’ fortitude is quickly approaching. They’re currently taking on the Orioles after the tough series sweep in Cleveland, and will then heading back to the South side of Chicago to take on the White Sox this weekend. After that, they head home to begin a homestand that includes visits from both the Indians and the Tigers. Fasten your seatbelts, Royals fans — it could be a bumpy ride.

TIGERS

Things got ugly in Motown over the weekend for the White Sox as they were swept by the division rival Tigers at Comerica, and the sweep stung especially bad when the White Sox had their three best pitchers in Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and Carlos Rodon going for them in each start. All three starters were lit up, Quintana not even making it out of the fifth inning, and things were simply not pretty.

The Tigers are 5-3  since last week, taking one from the Angels before the series sweep of the White Sox. While they may be on a relative hot streak, their rotation is currently the third-worst in the American League. However, that rotation has recently found a bit of salvation with a flash of vintage Justin Verlander on the mound and the emergence of newcomer Michael Fulmer. Fulmer flirted with a no-no recently, and has gone six-plus innings and allowed just one earned run in his last four starts, including holding the Blue Jays scoreless while the Tigers offense posted 11 runs for him. Must be nice! 

The Detroit offense has crept up on us all (especially Toronto last night), and the Tigers are currently tied for the second-best batting average in the league at .271, while also holding onto the third-highest slugging percentage at .447.

Detroit manager Brad Ausmus has recently switched up his lineup by batting center fielder Cameron Maybin second, while bumping J.D. Martinez to the five spot. “He’s getting on base, he has some speed, he can distract the pitcher, he can score on a double from first, he can steal a base,” Ausmus told the media of Maybin “He’s not really the prototypical run-producer. That doesn’t mean he can’t drive in runs… But, the bottom line is if he keeps getting on base, if he keeps having good at-bats in front of Miggy and Victor, and then J.D. behind that, there’s probably no reason to move him.”

The Tigers lineup may be of a more vintage makeup, but with the infusion of some youth, they could end up becoming a significant part of this race quite quickly, with a lot of that depending on how well Fulmer continues to carry himself in the rotation.

Next Up: The Tigers will continue a series at Comerica Park with the Blue Jays, and then head off on a road trip that will have them face the Yankees, the White Sox, and finally the Royals for four games. 

TWINS

Is this really even necessary? They’re winning percentage is below .300 and they’re just sort of hanging out until next year — or maybe even the year after that. It’s okay Twins, you’ll always have 2009 and 2010!

With a ton of inter-divisional matchups on the upcoming schedules for these teams, the AL Central is going through some interesting changes, and it’s truly still anyone’s race this early in the season.

The addition of James Shields that the White Sox made over the weekend should help to solidify the back end of the rotation that was so deeply in question, potentially helping keep them  in the race, but they’ll will need to step up the offense to aid the rotation and relieve some of the stress off the bullpen in order to truly feel comfortable as contenders. Shields’ first start will come Wednesday at U.S. Cellular Field against Max Scherzer and the Nationals. Challenge accepted.

Lead photo courtesy of Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

1. The Indians broke through for a lead they would not relinquish with two outs in the second when Lonnie Chisenhall roped a sinking liner to right. Rather than snag a highlight reel, inning-ending grab — or pull up and maybe field the ball on a bounce — Adam Eaton saw a two-run triple sneak under his glove and bounce to the wall.

The Indians would add another tally in the third, helped along when Joe West ruled that Jose Quintana balked when he picked off Jose Ramirez, granting him second base. Ramirez would come in to score on a Juan Uribe sacrifice fly to push the burden to 3-0.

One more tally would go up for the Tribe on the day when Yan Gomes‘ hot shot down the third base line bounced over the reach of Todd Frazier in the eighth, giving Cleveland yet another two-out RBI triple, and the run that would wind up serving as the difference in the game.

2. Quintana had his own shaky command and hung curveballs to blame for being in predicaments where a bad bounce was enough to tag him with three runs on the day, but still struck out eight compared to one walk over six innings.

When your fastball has as much natural life as Quintana’s, bare minimum quality starts seems like concessions, rather than the miracle it seemed like for Mat Latos in the Sox only win in this series.

3. Melky Cabrera made things interesting by blasting his third home run of the season off Bryan Shaw in the eighth. The two-run bullet just above the Bullpen Sports Bar in right brought the Sox within 4-3, and provided a spark of hope that was snuffed out when Cody Allen was able to throw a 1-2-3 ninth despite being on his third straight day of work.

4. Indians defense was incompetent yet again, but only led to so much in the way of offense. Frazier scored the White Sox first run of the game in the sixth inning when he stole second, advanced to third when Gomes uncorked a ridiculous errant throw into shallow center trying to throw him out, and scored when Rajai Davis sloppily muffed the ball as it rolled to him in center field.

Austin Jackson singling in the third, advancing to second on a Mike Napoli error and getting to third base on a passed ball, well, that couldn’t be taken advantage of.

5. Maybe the Sox would have fared better if they could have spent more time outside the presence of one Corey Kluber, who struck out nine and walked one in 7.1 innings.

Any rumors of his demise were distributed by severely misguided people.

Team Record: 27-21

Next game is Thursday at Kansas City at 7:15 p.m. CT

Lead Image Credit: Matt Marton // USA Today Sports Images