White Sox righty Zack Burdi’s dream comes to fruition with scoreless inning

Getting that phone call Friday night was one thing for White Sox rookie right-hander Zack Burdi.

Running onto the field from the bullpen and making his major-league debut was another.

But pitching a strong inning topped it all off.

“Being from Chicago and making your debut for the White Sox is what 50% of Chicago dreams of,” said Burdi, a Downers Grove South graduate. “The other 50% obviously dreams about the Cubs. But for me, this was my dream, and this was something I thought about when I was a kid.

‘‘[To come back from Tommy John and knee injuries], to see all that come to fruition, not only for me but for the people who have helped me along the way — the [physical therapists], the strength coaches, the pitching coaches, my parents, everyone who is involved — this is a huge day for a lot of people.”

A 2016 first-round pick, Burdi featured three pitches, including a fastball that touched 99 mph, and faced four batters in a scoreless sixth inning in the Sox’ 7-1 loss to the Indians on Saturday, striking out two.

“I was uber-focused out there,” he said.

Burdi said he got his mechanics where they needed to be after looking at a video on the internet about six weeks ago.

“I was just on Twitter one day,’’ Burdi said, ‘‘saw a guy explaining how he threw, and it was very similar to how I threw and my mechanical problems, and I took it and I used it and I brought it to coaches I was working with at the time. We figured out the correct sequencing, and from there, it wasn’t a huge gap.

“It’s definitely been nice to be back in that sync and that swing of things.”

Burdi was recalled from the Sox’ training facility in Schaumburg.

Sox were flat, Renteria says

It was a day game after a night game but an important one against one of the top teams in the division, but the Sox looked flat against Indians right-hander Zach Plesac, who pitched six scoreless innings, manager Rick Renteria said.

“These are types of guys we have to get after,’’ Renteria said. ‘‘To win, you have to put together the focus, the concentration. It’s not easy when you’re facing guys like this, but you have to . . . scratch away and claw and score a run or two here and there.”

Renteria and the coaches made it a talking point after the game.

“I think that maybe today’s game will be a great learning tool for us to understand,” he said.

“No one is going to give us anything. You don’t just turn on and turn off offenses.”

Jimenez at DH, Robert bats 6th

Eloy Jimenez, who has had a couple of perilous moments in left field, was the designated hitter with Adam Engel, who had two hits to raise his average to .323, in left field. The move was made to give Jimenez a bit of a breather, Renteria said.

“These guys are a little fatigued, so I wanted to get him off his feet a little bit,” he said.

Luis Robert, who is batting .322 but had one hit in his previous 10 at-bats, was dropped from leadoff to sixth.

“I hope this breath today sparks something, and he continues to move in the impressive way that he has leading off,” Renteria said.

Robert was 1-for-4 with a double.

Yoan Moncada (1-for-5) led off and homered in his last at-bat.