In a somewhat surprising move, the White Sox optioned starting pitcher Sean Burke to Triple-A Charlotte on Monday.
Burke, who was the team's Opening Day starter, has had an up-and-down season, going 4-10 with a 4.28 ERA. The 25-year-old right-hander has appeared in 24 games (20 starts), and he's pitched a team-leading and career-high 117.2 innings.
And Burke has struck out 110 batters across those innings. That's the good part. He has shown some ability to miss bats. However, he might be hitting a bit of a wall during these dog days of August.
On paper, his last five starts aren't that bad -- a 3.92 ERA with 30 strikeouts over 20.2 innings. But that last number -- the innings -- is the sore spot. Burke is barely averaging four innings per start over this stretch.
In his previous two outings, he needed 88 pitches to get through 3.1 innings against Cleveland. He needed 85 pitches to get through 3.2 innings Saturday against Kansas City. That's taxing a Sox bullpen that has been struggling.
It's not a great sign that both Burke and Jonathan Cannon have been optioned to Charlotte in recent days. No doubt the Sox were hoping one (or both) of them would have a breakout season and solidify a rotation spot for 2026. Neither man has done that.
Martin Perez is back off the injured list, and he'll rejoin the rotation when he starts Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves. Perez and Aaron Civale make up the veteran part of the starting staff.
Shane Smith has looked much better since recently coming off the injured list, and Davis Martin threw six innings of shutout ball in a no-decision Sunday in Kansas City.
So, four of the rotation spots are still covered, despite the struggles of Burke and Cannon. Apparently, the Sox want to take a look at righty Yoendrys Gomez, who had a strong five-inning start with seven strikeouts against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 12.
Gomez pitched Monday's game against the Atlanta Braves, as well, and he picked up his second consecutive victory as the Sox beat Atlanta, 13-9.
The Sox were ahead 10-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, so Gomez (3-1) was once again effective through five. Alas, he gave up three runs in the sixth, and that made his final line look mediocre -- four runs on seven hits, with three strikeouts and one walk.
The 13 runs and 19 hits were season highs for the Sox. Brooks Baldwin, Luis Robert Jr., Lenyn Sosa and Kyle Teel all homered for the Sox.
For Sosa, it was his third homer in the four games on the current road trip. He now leads the team with 17 home runs. Teel and Andrew Benintendi each had four-hit games.
The Sox are now 45-80.
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