White Sox at Cleveland postponed; Rick Renteria tests negative for COVID-19

Progressive Field in Cleveland

The series opener between the White Sox and Cleveland Indians was postponed Monday because of rain.

The game will be made up Tuesday as part of a straight doubleheader, starting at 2:30 p.m. The regularly scheduled game will begin about 45 minutes after the conclusion of the opener.

The pitching matchups will remain the same, with Dylan Cease and Carlos Rodon scheduled to pitch for the Sox (1-2). The Indians (2-1) will go with Aaron Civale and Adam Plutko.

Renteria reportedly OK after COVID-19 scare

If the game had been played Monday night, Sox manager Rick Renteria would not have been at the ballpark.

Renteria woke up Monday with "a slight cough and nasal congestion," and he opted to undergo tests at a Cleveland hospital before going back to the team hotel. Reports later in the evening indicated Renteria tested negative for COVID-19.

Perhaps the skipper was just suffering because of the high mold count in the area after the recent rains. While we may object to Renteria's usage of Nicky Delmonico in the everyday lineup, we certainly want him to remain healthy.

Health is especially a concern for all with postponements Monday of games between the Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins, and the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees.

A substantial COVID-19 outbreak has occurred within the Marlins, and the MLB season is teetering on the brink. The Phillies are testing all their personnel and quarantining themselves for the time being, as well, because they just hosted Miami in a three-game series over the weekend.

I've been watching a lot of games over the weekend, not just the Sox, and I've noticed plenty of spitting, high fives and hugging after home runs. Mask wearing and social distancing in dugouts seems to be mixed, much as it is in society at large. It makes me wonder whether players are truly taking protocols seriously, and hopefully, the wake-up call has sounded. If not, the 2020 season might not last long.

As far as Renteria has been concerned, I haven't seen him without a mask since baseball resumed. It does seem as though the Sox manager takes the health crisis seriously, and I don't foresee him being the cause of things falling apart.

Lopez to injured list; other roster moves

White Sox pitcher Reynaldo Lopez has been placed on the 10-day injured list after an MRI showed right shoulder inflammation. Lopez pitched only two-thirds of an inning and gave up four earned runs Sunday in a 14-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

Right-handed relief pitcher Ian Hamilton was recalled from the Sox's alternate training site to take Lopez's place on the roster. It is expected that Gio Gonzalez will move from a long relief role into the starting rotation.

In another roster move, the Sox designated third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert for assignment and purchased the contract of infielder Ryan Goins.

Kopech files for divorce

White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech filed for divorce from Riverdale star Vanessa Morgan. The couple were only married for six months before parting ways. Morgan is pregnant, so there is a lot going on in Kopech's life right now.

The right-hander opted out of playing this season earlier in July.

A few notes from my recent trip to Progressive Field in Cleveland

As readers of this blog are aware, I recently went on a baseball trip that had nothing to do with the 2019 White Sox.

The main destination, of course, was Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. That being said, it's a 12-hour drive from the Chicago area to Cooperstown, and while that's doable, I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing it all in one shot.

Cleveland is about the halfway point, and we stopped there from two days July 20-21, and of course, we took in a game between the Indians and the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field on that Saturday night.

The Tribe had a big crowd, much to my surprise, and we ended up with seats in the nosebleed section. We were in the upper deck, in the last section down the left-field line. Or maybe they just stuck us up there because the person at the box office noticed my Chicago hat.

Anyway, here was the view:

Yeah, we were way up there. It was about 95 degrees with a heat index of 106 that night, and I give full credit to the ushers in Cleveland: They passed out free cups of ice to anyone who wanted one. That seems like a small thing, but that would never happen at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, where they apparently inventory cups for some reason.

One feature of the ballpark I liked? Well, what's the one thing Sox fans have in common with Indians fans? We both like Jim Thome, and Thome is prominently featured with a statue and a plaque in the Indians' ring of honor in center field:

For the record, the Royals beat the Indians, 1-0, on a home run by Hunter Dozier in the first inning. I wasn't expecting a big pitcher's duel between Jakob Junis and Adam Plutko, but I wasn't complaining about a game that finished in less than three hours on a hot, humid night.

Plutko gave up that homer the third batter of the game, and Junis and three Kansas City relievers combined on a three-hit shutout.

James Shields beats Indians, gets first win since March 29

James Shields

I had a sense that Tuesday's pitching matchup provided the White Sox with their best chance to beat the Cleveland Indians in this week's four-game series.

Sure enough, the Sox won Tuesday, 5-1. 

Does it sound weird that I expected to win a James Shields start? Maybe, but my hopes for victory Tuesday were less about Shields and more about the Cleveland starter, Adam Plutko.

Plutko's name is not Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer or Mike Clevinger, and I figured he would be the one Indians starter the Sox could hit.

They hit him all right, as Yoan Moncada and Yolmer Sanchez hit home runs on back-to-back pitches in the bottom of the first inning. Matt Davidson added a pair of RBI doubles -- one in the first and one in the fifth -- and Omar Narvaez contributed an RBI single as the Sox touched up Plutko for five runs over 4.2 innings.

And, oh yeah, credit Shields (2-7) for doing his job. He went seven innings and allowed only one run on four hits. He didn't miss many bats -- only two strikeouts -- but he didn't walk anybody, and he induced a fair amount of weak contact with 14 fly-ball outs.

Shields has pitched six innings or more in each of his past 10 games, and this is his first victory since March 29 -- the season opener in Kansas City. His ERA is down to 4.63, after being at 6.14 after the month of April.

Is Shields emerging as a potential midseason trade candidate? I'm not holding my breath, but Sox fans can hope. He's pitching better now than at any point since he put on a Sox uniform.