Pitching implodes in loss

Covey’s latest outing raises questions about his short-term future

What now for Dylan Covey? Before Sunday’s implosion in a 9-7 loss to the Indians, White Sox manager Rick Renteria called Covey a potential seven- or eightinning starter.

His recent numbers suggest he has trouble making it past the fifth.

Disaster struck Sunday in a four-run, 28-pitch first, capped by Melky Cabrera’s three-run home run. The Indians tacked on two more runs in the second, and Covey exited in the third when he couldn’t land a pair of low fastballs and walked Greg Allen with two outs. Hector Santiago relieved him and struck out Erik Gonzalez to get out of the inning.

All told, Covey gave up six earned runs, seven hits and two walks and struck out three in 2 2⁄3 innings.

Before walking Allen, Covey got Cabrera to ground out and struck out Yan Gomes. Despite the early damage, it’s telling that he got the hook considering the 42-74 Sox have little to play for outside of player development, taxing the bullpen has been a seasonlong concern and coaches want Covey to learn how to fight through adversity.

Perhaps it’s an acknowledgment Covey hasn’t shown the fortitude to do that.

A troubling theme in recent starts has been Covey putting men on base and things tending to spiral for him, particularly in the fifth inning.

He entered Sunday with a 10.45 ERA in the fifth. For comparison’s sake, he had a 2.40 ERA in the first before Sunday’s meltdown. Covey had allowed at least two runs in the fifth in his previous three outings, though not all of them were earned.

“We’ve seen him go through three, four innings where he’s really, really good, and all of a sudden it starts to falter a little bit,” Renteria said before the game. “But we have to allow him to continue to do what he does and give him an opportunity to learn what he’s about.”

How much more rope can Renteria afford to give him?

Covey has posted 6-plus ERAs in July and August, and Sunday’s effort raised his season ERA (6.06) above 6 for the first time since his first start in April.

Carson Fulmer similarly struggled to last past the early innings, and the Sox optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte in May. The Sox also have a lot of young talent — including potential call-ups such as Michael Kopech, who threw seven scoreless innings for Charlotte on Saturday night — that will be competing for mound time late in the season.

Renteria might soon face an enviable dilemma in which he and

his coaching staff have to pick from among more potential starters than they can accommodate.

“We’ll probably all sit down and try to imagine, formulate what they are or are not,” he said before the game. “You might have seven starters and you go, gosh, we only have room for five. Does one of them switch to the bullpen role?

“All of them have to understand what they’re capable of doing in their different roles. Some guys may not be as astute in a relief role as they are in a starting role. Those are going to be really good, tough decisions for us to make.”