White Sox right-hander Jose Urena has had a tough season, bouncing around with two organizations before landing with the pitching-desperate White Sox last month.
Given a chance to make major league starts again, the 32-year-old Dominican was sharp for most of two with the Sox, pitching four innings of one-run ball against the Tigers last Saturday in Detroit and then holding the AL Central leading Twins to two runs while striking out eight batters through six innings Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
And then the Twins zinged him four four runs on Matt Walner’s two-run single and Kyle Farmer’s two-run homer in the seventh, the third long ball of the night for the team that’s third in the AL in homers.
Behind seven innings of two-run ball from right-hander Kenta Maeda, the Twins went on to rout the Sox 10-2, handing the Sox (56-91) their fifth loss in six games and 10th in the last 13.
Urena made the Rockies Opening Day roster, but after going 0-4 with a 9.82 ERA was released on April 27. He made 15 uneventful Triple-A starts for the Nationals, who released him on Aug. 3 after he posted a 6.31 ERA.
The Sox signed him to minor league deal four days later and plugged him into the rotation in the spot that had been held by Michael Kopech, who has made two bullpen appearances since. Urena featured a diving changeup, got 16 swings and misses and did not walk a batter. He retired the first nine batters before Edouard Julien led off the fourth with a home run.
Urena took a career 4.90 ERA in 195 games with four teams, including 139 starts, into the game.
Homer No. 20 for Vaughn
First baseman Andrew Vaughn hit his 20th homer, a two-run shot against Maeda, and hiked his RBI total to 75. He was batting .321/333/.556 in his previous 14 games.
Vaughn has played in 137 games, the most in his three-year career.
“He’s getting in that gym, and he’s working really hard to finish this season strong,” Grifol said. “I like what he’s done, and I like that he hasn’t tapped into his full potential yet and he’s having a pretty good year. There’s a lot more in the tank. He’s going to turn out to be a pretty damn good baseball player for us for a long time.”
Another start possible for Kopech
Kopech has made two relief appearances, allowing a run in each.
Grifol isn’t ruling out giving Kopech, who owns a 5.23 ERA, another start before the season concludes.
“There wasn’t an adaptive reason, ‘OK go ahead and see if you can adapt to being a reliever,’ That’s not the case,” Grifol said. “He’s a starter. We’re going to make a decision on that pretty soon, whether we want to see him back in there to start a game or keep him there for right now.”
This and that
The Twins series is the the Sox’ last one against a division opponent. The Sox are 3-10 against the AL Central in their last 13 games, 22-27 overall.
*Luis Robert (1,151 2/3) and Andrew Benintendi (1,145 2/3) are sixth and seventh in innings played among AL outfielders.
*The Twins struck out 12 times, raising their total to 1,511 to easily stay on pace for the 2021 Cubs record of 1,596.