KANSAS CITY – Prior to tonight’s series opener at Kansas City, the Chicago White Sox purchased the contract of two-time All-Star right-handed pitcher Johnny Cueto from Class AAA Charlotte and optioned infielder Danny Mendick to Charlotte. Cueto will start tonight’s game at Kauffman Stadium.

Cueto, 36, is 0-1 with a 5.17 ERA (9 ER/15.2 IP) and 17 strikeouts in four starts with Charlotte after signing with Chicago as a minor-league free agent on April 8. He will wear uniform No. 47.

The 5-foot-11, 225-pound Cueto spent the entire 2021 season with San Francisco, going 7-7 with a 4.08 ERA (52 ER/114.2 IP) and 98 strikeouts in 22 starts last season. Cueto’s win, IP and strikeout totals were his most since 2017.

Cueto has recorded three seasons of 18-plus wins, five seasons of 150-plus strikeouts and four years of 200.0-plus IP. He is a two-time All-Star (2014, ’16) and led the National League with 242 strikeouts in 2014. Cueto is 135-97 with a 3.45 ERA (780 ER/2,034.1 IP), 1,710 strikeouts, 17 complete games and eight shutouts in 330 career appearances (329 starts) over 14 major-league seasons with the Reds (2008-2015), Royals (2015) and Giants (2016-21).

Cueto has made eight career postseason starts with Cincinnati (2010, ’12-13), Kansas City (2015) and San Francisco (2016). He helped lead the Royals to the 2015 World Series championship after being acquired from the Reds as part of a four-player deal on July 26, 2015. Cueto allowed one run on two hits in a complete-game win in Game 2 of the Fall Classic vs. the Mets.

He originally was signed by the Reds as an international free agent on March 8, 2004 as an 18-year-old out of the Dominican Republic. Cueto ranks among the all-time leaders for Dominican-born pitchers in ERA (4th), wins (T5th), starts (6th), IP (7th) and strikeouts (7th). Among active right-handed pitchers, he ranks fifth in starts, wins, IP and ERA, ninth in strikeouts and 10th in winning percentage.

Mendick, 28, is hitting .217 (5-23) with two doubles, one home run and three RBI in 11 games over two stints with the White Sox this season.

The White Sox 40-man roster increases to 40. Third-base coach Joe McEwing will switch to uniform No. 99.