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Third to first

• Although Cooper said the upcoming rotation hadn't been completely finalized, he didn't see any changes to be made with the opportunity afforded by Thursday's off-day.

"Robin and I are talking more about giving the extra day," Cooper said. "Everybody gets a day with the off-day."

• Defensive back Charles Tillman, who has 42 forced fumbles and 36 interceptions over his 11-year career with the Bears, threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

Conor Gillaspie would have served as the emergency catcher Monday, after Flowers was ejected and Adrian Nieto came into the game. Ventura gave him the nod over Leury Garcia, but Paul Konerko, who came up with the Dodgers as a catcher, no longer is in the running.

"Konerko has bowed out. I've taken him out of the running," said Ventura with a smile. "He was in there, but he's out of the running."

• Frank Thomas, part of the 2014 induction class for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and arguably the greatest hitter in White Sox history, celebrated his 46th birthday on Tuesday.

"I think he made it look easy for a lot of reasons. But he just had a great eye," said Ventura of his former teammate. "Everybody knew the power. But a guy that size knowing the strike zone the way he did and being able to hit it the other way [made him great].

"There wasn't a breaking in period for him. He came up and he hit from Day 1. It wasn't, it didn't seem like he ever went through valleys that first-year guys went through."

• Class A Winston-Salem right-handed pitcher Frank Montas was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for May 19-25. Montas allowed one run on two hits with 11 strikeouts over eight innings on May 22 at Salem. The hurler acquired from Boston as part of the Jake Peavy /Avisail Garcia /Jose Iglesias three-team deal last July 30 carried a no-hitter into the seventh.

• Gillaspie became the eighth White Sox player to record a four-plus hit game this season. The others are Gordon Beckham, Flowers, Avisail Garcia, Alexei Ramirez, Marcus Semien (twice), Moises Sierra and Dayan Viciedo. According to Elias, no other team in baseball has more than four players with a four-hit performance this season.

Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Merk's Works, and follow him on Twitter @scottmerkin.
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