The White Sox are giving Jose Urquidy a shot in the rotation, and the timing says plenty about where this pitching staff stands right now.
Less than a month after acquiring Urquidy from the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor-league pitcher Felix Doroteo, the Sox are turning to him for the series opener against the Texas Rangers. It will be his first MLB start since he took a no-decision in Game 4 of the 2023 ALCS with the Houston Astros - a game that also came against the Rangers, who later went on to win their first World Series title.
Urquidy didn’t arrive in Chicago with much certainty attached to him, just the idea that he might eventually help a staff that had started to look increasingly vulnerable. The answer came quicker than expected.
When the Sox needed someone to soak up innings in the final crosstown series game, he stepped in and delivered. After Sean Newcomb held the Cubs scoreless through two innings, Urquidy matched that with six shutout frames of his own, striking out eight in a 3-0 win.
That performance earned him the nod against Texas, but it also fit what he had already shown at Triple-A Charlotte. In three starts there before the call-up, Urquidy posted a 2.25 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Then Davis Martin landed on the injured list, and the door opened.
The White Sox now have another veteran voice in the mix, one whose value comes on the mound rather than at the plate or in the field. That matters on a staff that has weakened as the season has gone on. Randal Grichuk and Andrew Benintendi had been viewed as the club’s veteran leaders before Urquidy put on a Sox uniform, but he brings a different kind of steadiness.
Chicago doesn’t need him to replicate the Cubs outing pitch for pitch. What they need is simpler: somebody who can keep runs off the board and, better yet, keep runners from piling up in the first place. So far, Urquidy has done that.
There’s also the version of him that has shown up before. His last outing with the Pittsburgh Pirates came on April 13, when he gave up four runs in a single inning. Two appearances earlier, he had allowed only one earned run over two innings, even if the box score still showed four runs next to his name.
That’s the uncertainty now. Is the Cubs game the start of something, or just one sharp night?
The White Sox will find out quickly enough. If Urquidy can keep this up over the final month of the regular season, he could become a real wild card for a team that suddenly has a rotation piece it can lean on.
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