White Sox right-hander Jonathan Cannon had a disastrous spring training, which was evident by his bloated 10.32 ERA.
But spring numbers can be misleading because pitchers sometimes use the games to fine-tune their arsenals. Cannon used the spring to work on the shapes of his off-speed pitches and his changeup.
Though he didn’t get the desired results in Arizona, the work paid off in his first regular-season start. Cannon pitched five scoreless innings in the Sox’ 1-0 loss Saturday to the Angels, allowing four hits, striking out five and walking three.
‘‘[Cannon] used a sinker well at the bottom of the zone, got ground balls when he needed to,’’ manager Will Venable said. ‘‘The four-seamer was working up in the zone, and [he had] a good changeup, too. He did a great job mixing it up. Really nice performance from Jonathan.”
Sox starters haven’t allowed a run in the first two games, and the defense has been stout.
Third baseman Miguel Vargas turned a double play on an impressive stop with runners on first and second to end the seventh inning. It was one of three double plays the Sox turned.
‘‘Certainly, defensively is the first thing that comes to mind,’’ Venable said of what has stood out in the Sox’ first two games. ‘‘These guys have been working tremendously hard. Really pleased with the work they put in, and it showed up on the field. And then [the] pitching has been outstanding.’’
Cannon’s outing got off to a shaky start, with an 11-pitch at-bat against leadoff man Taylor Ward beginning a 34-pitch first inning. But after yielding a single to Ward and a two-out walk to Jorge Soler, Cannon escaped the jam by striking out former Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada.
Cannon said he was proud of his execution in big spots.
‘‘Really executing big pitches when I had to,’’ Cannon said. ‘‘A lot of that was [catcher Matt Thaiss] behind the plate making really good pitch calls and reading the swings a little bit, keeping me focused, coming out and talking to me, settling me down when he had to. We had good chemistry today.’’
But the Sox’ offense was dormant against Angels right-hander Jose Soriano, who yielded two hits, struck out five and walked two in seven scoreless innings. The Sox couldn’t get anything going against his sinker.
‘‘He was doing what he does,’’ Thaiss, who played the last six seasons with the Angels, said of Soriano. ‘‘He fills up the zone. He has a really good high-velocity sinker and a curveball. He kept us off-balance all day.’’
The Angels scored the lone run of the game in the eighth. Sox reliever Mike Clevinger retired the first two hitters before walking Soler. After a wild pitch and a subsequent errant throw by Thaiss put Soler on third, Moncada singled him home.
Granted it has been against the Angels, who scored the third-fewest runs in the majors last season (635), but the Sox pitching’ has been a bright spot in their first two games.
‘‘It was crappy luck the way they scored the run, but [if] we keep pitching like that and playing defense . . . we’ll hit; it’s not a problem,’’ Cannon said. ‘‘We’re gonna win games if we keep playing like this.’’
