As far as the White Sox go, that sums up all of the positives from the game. Dylan Covey, Chris Beck, and Mike Pelfrey each pitched multiple innings and allowed even more runs. Anderson’s double stood as the White Sox’ only hit, with Rob Brantly’s walk representing the only other baserunner on the afternoon.

After the game, Ausmus faced down questions as to why Castellanos—a recent convert from third base to the outfield—had not been pulled for a defensive replacement.  It wouldn’t have been a routine play, necessarily, but it is not outlandish to suggest that a defender with better range would have hauled in the catch and clinched the no hitter for Boyd.  Castellanos is not fleet of foot and while he may eventually profile better in the outfield than at third, his bat certainly looks less special in right field.

Heading into Sunday’s game, the White Sox had been averaging 8.6 runs scored over the previous eight contests, so the prudent course would be to chalk Sunday up to One Of Those Days and move on.

The biggest news of the weekend was likely Carson Fulmer’s start on Friday evening, his second consecutive outing of 6 innings with only 1 run allowed.  Fulmer has had a tough season, getting hit around in Triple-A and getting absolutely annihilated in his first start in the majors this year.  So even if his recent run of success has been against Detroit and San Francisco’s weak lineups, he is closing on a high note.  Over his last 12 innings, he has struck out 14 against only 4 walks while logging 19 swinging strikes, getting a lot of swings and misses on fastballs above the belt.

Fulmer has good velocity, sitting around 94, topping out as high as 97, and he is able to both cut and sink it as needed.  If you watched Corey Kluber in the playoffs last year, you can see what that kind of arsenal can accomplish when thrown with impeccable command.  The organization has also raved about his makeup and work ethic.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is unchanged when it comes to Fulmer. His delivery is violent and difficult to repeat, the great life he gets on his pitches also means he fails to consistently pitch to specific quadrants of the plate, let alone hit the glove. There’s still a chance that he could stick in the rotation as a solid back-end guy, but the landscape of the organization has shifted massively since his arrival.  When he was drafted, the organization would have loved it if he quickly became a #4 starter to slot in behind Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, and he represented a disturbingly high percentage of the White Sox’ prospect capital.

Now, as it looks increasingly likely that Fulmer will wind up a reliever—and he’d probably be quite a good one, who could be used for more than three outs at a time—that would still be an acceptable outcome.  The plan for the rotation now looks like some combination of Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Michael Kopech, Dane Dunning, and others.

Fulmer might still be a starter, but the odds are against him.  That doesn’t mean he can’t be a really useful piece moving forward, but a few good starts in September should be kept in their proper context.

Lead Image Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday night, Gonzalez resumed his hot streak.

1. Against a generally fearsome Tigers lineup, Gonzalez spun a smooth 6.1 scoreless innings, showing as much rising life on his fastball and perfect location to make his mediocre stuff play up. After a perfect first entirely of groundball outs, Gonzalez whiffed Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez with fastballs out of the zone in the second, and when a hit batter and a single created a mini-jam in the third, Cameron Maybin bailed him out by taking off on a weak Jose Iglesias flare to right, and was easily doubled off by an Avisail Garcia throw to first. When back-to-back singles led off the fourth, Gonzalez mowed through J.D. Martinez and Justin Upton, the latter of which on a gorgeous, diving slider. Despite being pulled at a meager 91 pitches, he still handed over just eight outs for a taxed Sox bullpen to track down.

2. The first two of which were not easy. Dan Jennings was brought in with one out after Gonzalez gave up two singles in the seventh and promptly walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia to load the bases. Never one to respect to typical platoon splits in the first place, Jennings came right at rookie JaCoby Jones and blew him away with heat after falling behind 2-0. Jennings gave way to Nate Jones, who completely overwhelmed Maybin to end the threat.

3. Tigers lefty starter Matt Boyd‘s 2.64 second half ERA might have been the pitching story to watch coming into the game if not for Gonzalez’s return, and his effort Tuesday night might have been the story if not for how well Gonzalez’s return went. Boyd struck out six over seven solid innings, but took the loss because he hung a curve that Jose Abreu hit to The Loop in the second inning for his 23rd home run of the year, and allowed an alternate future White Sox tandem of Jason Coats (double to left), and Omar Narvaez (drilled RBI single to center) do a number on him in the fifth. Narvaez (.340/.462/.396) is not going to BABIP .400 forever, but he’s walked 12 times to just eight strikeouts, and that’s a trait that might help him cover up a total lack of power.

4. David Robertson was obligated to add some drama to the night in ninth, and came within inches of allowing a leadoff home run to J.D. Martinez to left. Martinez settled instead for barely outrunning a insane near-highlight reel play from Tim Anderson for an infield single, and a truly improbable walk to Erick Aybar brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Robertson found it in him to whiff Upton, force a Saltalamacchia pop-up, and vaporized pinch-hitter Tyler Collins to end the night.

5. Anderson struck out twice in a return to the leadoff spot as Adam Eaton got a rare night off, but he also singled, walked, stole a base, and flashed plus range to his right and plus arm strength at short. The Sox are OK at that position for a while, it seems.

Team Record: 66-72

Next game is Wednesday vs. Detroit at 1:10pm CT on WGN

Lead Image Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski // USA Today Sports Images

1. The Sox offense did that wonderful thing where they squander the hell out of scoring opportunities, managing to leave 15 runners on base, including getting two runners on with one out in the first inning without managing to score a run. This would be repeated in the top of the fifth, with two runners reaching base with no outs before Jose Abreu grounded into a double play and Todd Frazier grounded out to spoil the threat.

2. The good news is that the Sox did not seem to be entirely confused by Matt Boyd’s weak offerings, they just came up slightly short like they have all season. The top of the fourth had a nice moment with the bases somehow managing to get loaded with two outs and Saladino knocking a two-run single to center to score Justin Morneau and Avisail Garcia to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.

3. This was crucial as despite the end results, Shields looked like 2016 James Shields throughout the game. He threw more off-speed stuff than usual, but it feels like late-career John Danks at this point where you’re just waiting for the killer to jump out of the closet and mercifully murder the quintagonist. Shields heroically managed to limit the damage to just two runs after Justin Upton’s home run in the bottom of the sixth, with six strikeouts to just three walks. It was something close to impressive, but the bullpen made sure it just didn’t matter.

4. Saladino hit a home run to deep left-center in the top of the seventh to put the Sox back on top and it was a fun moment that may have reminded you that everything isn’t completely terrible. Saladino has developed into a pretty useful utility infielder who won’t cost the Sox anything and has positive value, especially on a team that refuses to actually spend money on anything important.

5. But the bullpen. Dan Jennings, Tommy Kahnle and Chris Beck all pitched one-third of an inning and did not ruin everything, despite being well known members of the Ruiners Club. No, tonight that honor went to Nate Jones. Jones was ineffectively wild, walking J.D. Martinez on six pitches with none of the balls being anywhere close to the zone. He recovered initially by striking out Upton on three straight fastballs before grooving a pitch down the middle to Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty deposited it into the right-center stands and that was that. The Sox went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, falling to 63-67.

Next Game: 6:10 p.m. Tuesday against the Tigers on CSN-Chicago.

Lead Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports