NEW YORK – White Sox right-hander Jonathan Cannon returned to the mound on Tuesday night against the Mets. It came three days after he was scratched against the Rangers because of lower back tightness.
Cannon didn’t have any problems physically at Citi Field, though he had a Therabody back wrap attached to his lower back in between innings. However, he had a hard time getting outs in the first inning, which proved to be costly in a 6-4 loss to New York.
Cannon was given a 2-0 lead in the first inning after first baseman Miguel Vargas hit a two-run homer off Mets right-hander Tylor Megill. But the way Cannon was throwing the baseball, it looked like he was in for a short night.
With two outs, Cannon allowed five consecutive hits before getting that final out. There were two big blows and they came from Pete Alonso and Jared Young, who hit two-run homers to make it a 4-2 game. New York is known to be patient at the plate, but it surprised Cannon by swinging early in the count.
“[The Mets] just came out swinging,” Cannon said. “I think I threw 21, 22 pitches in the first inning. I thought I made some pretty good pitches in the first. They put some good swings on them. A couple of balls found some holes.”
But Cannon fought back and pitched into the sixth inning, when he was pulled for reliever Jared Shuster. Cannon decided to throw some offspeed pitches early in the count to keep New York off balance. It worked.
After the first inning, Cannon faced 18 hitters and retired 14 of them while allowing one run. At one point, after allowing a double to Young in the third inning, Cannon retired 11 straight hitters.
“I’ve run into issues in the past. You give [up runs in that first inning] and you think you have to be perfect and you fall behind and walk guys,” Cannon said. “But just knowing that the stuff is good, the stuff is going to play, you have to continue to get ahead and pitch to guys like I know how.
“I knew I needed to get some length today after I got scratched the other day. But it’s tough to think about while you are out there. It’s just making quality pitches and trying to get some quick outs and we were able to do that in the middle innings and keep us in the game.”
White Sox manager Will Venable was pleased with Cannon’s outing, especially because Venable didn’t have to use his entire bullpen. Venable needs to have a rested bullpen for Wednesday afternoon. The Mets announced the game between the two clubs has been moved to 12:10 p.m. CT due to inclement weather.
“We are in a good spot for tomorrow,” Venable said. “Cannon is one of our horses. He is going to pitch deep into games. He has all year. He is one of those guys that has been able to make adjustments and get back on track pretty quickly.”