The White Sox placed right-handed pitcher Jake Petricka on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to April 5) with a strained right lat on Thursday and recalled right-hander Tommy Kahnle from AAA Charlotte.
Petricka, 28, pitched a scoreless inning in the Sox’ 6-3 season opening loss to the Tigers Tuesday.
“After we took him out, he came in after and said he was a little sore,” manager Rick Renteria said.He pitched in only nine games last season after undergoing surgery to repair a labral tear in his right hip.
Kahnle, 27, was 0-1 with a 2.63 ERA in 29 relief appearances last season, his first with the Sox. He has an upper-90s arm but command issues have plagued him throughout his career, as recently as spring training.
“He’s going to get another crack at it,” pitching coach Don Cooper said. “His arm doesn’t belong in the minor leagues. The only thing between him and staying here forever is just throwing his fastball, his breaking ball, his changeup over the plate.”
Kahnle allowed 17 hits in 27 1/3 innings (good) and struck out 25 (good last season). But he walked 20.
“It’s the walk column we’ve got to take care of,” Cooper said.
Kahnle admitted to being surprised that he got the call this soon.
“Actually my wife finally unpacked my suitcase [in Charlotte] yesterday and we found out,” he said. “She was like, ‘Oh, gosh. Really?’ It was pretty funny.’ ”
Kahnle figured he had more work to do in Charlotte.
“My fastball command wasn’t really there this spring,” he said. “It was hit or miss. I had a couple outings down [in minor league games] that were suspect as well. I had a sim game the other day and it felt like I found it again. Hopefully I can run with it from there.”
The Sox host the Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field Thursday (1:10, Ch. 9, 890-AM).
Here’s the lineup:
Saladino 2B, Anderson SS, Cabrera LF, Abreu 1B, Frazier 3B, A. Garcia RF, Davidson DH, Soto C, May CF, Shields P
