PELFREYCOMES UNDONEAGAIN IN FIFTH INNING
Review with Cooper may ease sting after latest Pelfrey collapse
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Things are different around here, Mike Pelfrey found out quickly after joining the White Sox.
A day after making his first start April 22 for the team that signed him five weeks ago, the veteran righthander got a tap on the shoulder from pitching coach Don Cooper.
He said, ‘ Are you ready to go over the game?’ and I was like, ‘ OK.’ I didn’t know what he meant,” Pelfrey said. “I’ve never done anything like that. But we went downstairs [ at Guaranteed Rate Field], 65inch TV, the game’s on. Boom, we go over every pitch. This was like hands- on to the point I’ve never seen it before, but I loved that.”
The Sox picked up Pelfrey, 33, after the Detroit Tigers, who had signed him to a two- year, $ 16 million free- agent deal before the 2016 season, cut him loose near the end of spring training and ate his contract. The Sox needed protection for just the sort of thing that happened to James Shields four weeks ago — an extended trip to the disabled list— and Pelfrey was signed.
The trick for Cooper and Pelfrey is finding a way to get the big righthander to stay strong through five or six innings, which again failed to happen in the Sox’ 5- 3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday — their 12th loss in their last 13 games in Anaheim. Pelfrey was as good as he can be through four, holding the Angels scoreless, but then— as usual— it all unraveled on him.
“The first three or four innings in the last few starts have been great, and then it’s like three hitters [ get me] every game,” Pelfrey said.
That was the case again as the Sox opened a 10- game road trip on a sour note. Jose Abreu staked Pelfrey to a 2- 0 lead with an opposite- field homer in the fourth against Jesse Chavez. Tyler Saladino tripled in a run in the fifth tomake it 3- 0.
But after pitching four scoreless innings, aiming to surpass his season high of 5⅓, Pelfrey struggled on his third time through the order, walking Cameron Maybin and Danny Espinosa before Kole Calhoun launched a tying three- run homer in the fifth. Mike Trout then made it back- to- back jacks with his fourth homer in as many games, the first time in his career Trout has homered in four straight. Anthony Swarzak ( 0.00 ERA) was summoned to get the final out of the fifth.
Martin Maldonado homered in the seventh to make it 5- 3. The Sox’ Kevan Smith had the tying runs on base in the ninth but struck out to end the game.
More conversation with Cooper is in order, which Pelfrey is open to. His first sitdown with Cooper, in which they bounced ideas off each other, “was like the coolest pitching coach/ player thing I’ve ever seen. And I love it,” Pelfrey said.
“It gets you out there on what he’s thinking, what you did well, what you didn’t do well, what you need to do better. I can see why his reputation is great.”
Said Cooper: “We’re proactive, and we’re going to try stuff. What I like about him is he’s into it. He’s ready, willing and able to do anything we ask him to do, just to see how it feels. He’s been very responsive to it.’’
With the loss Monday, Pelfrey fell to 0- 4 and saw his ERA climb to 5.70 ERA in five starts for the Sox.
“Every time you’re out there pitching, he’s there with you, too,’’ Pelfrey said of Cooper. “If you’re [ ticked] off about your start, he’s [ ticked] off. If you’re like, ‘ That was good,’ he’s like, ‘ That was good.’ He rides that wave with you. Obviously there are ups and downs through a season, but his main focus isn’t ‘ You sucked,’ but ‘ How are we going to get better?’ ”