As expected, the White Sox purchased the contract of right-hander Ervin Santana from Class AAA Charlotte before their game Tuesday against the Rays at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Santana, 36, signed a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training Feb. 23 and has been groomed to be the Sox’ fifth starter. With no need for five starters until today because of off days on the schedule, the Sox held Santana back in Arizona after spring training.
Santana is scheduled to start today (1:10 p.m., NBCSCH, 720-AM) against Rays right-hander Charlie Morton (1-0, 1.64).
Here is the Sox lineup:
Leury Garcia CF
Yoan Moncada 3B
Jose Abreu DH
Yonder Alonso 1B
Tim Anderson SS
Welington Castillo C
Eloy Jimenez LF
Daniel Palka RF
Yolmer Sanchez 2B
Ervin Santana P
Santana was limited to five games in 2018 because of a middle finger injury on his pitching hand. He owns a career 149-125 record and 4.06 ERA in 384 games over 14 seasons with Angels, Royals, Braves and Twins and is a two-time All-Star, most recently in 2017 with the Twins. He went 16-8 with a 3.28 ERA that year, leading the major leagues with five complete games and three shutouts over 33 starts. Santana also started the AL Wild Card game at Yankee Stadium that year.
The White Sox 40-man roster is at 40.