GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chris Murphy was listed on Saturday’s notes as the Sunday starter vs. the Royals at Camelback Ranch. When the clubhouse opened in the wee hours before the game, Jordan Hicks was listed as the starter with Murphy coming on in relief.
Murphy said that’s the way the lineup read when he received it Saturday night. No big deal. He thinks they’re beginning to settle him into a bullpen role, but he’s not sure.
“That’s all I’ve got for you,” Murphy said.
Hicks advised last week he was fine with a bullpen role, but then on Sunday he started.
Sox manager Will Venable explained the reason for the shift Sunday morning after announcing that Shane Smith would be the club’s opening day starter on May 26 at Milwaukee.
“It depends on every day how we’re deploying these guys,” Venable said. “We had a couple of guys we could throw. It was an opportunity to get Hicks up front. He might be someone at some point this year you could see open. It gives you an opportunity to give him some work out front here, but it also gives you an opportunity for him to face better hitters, which we think was important.”
Hicks wasn’t stellar working into the second inning. He walked four Royals, three in a row before being lifted with two out. He threw 38 pitches, 22 balls.
Murphy finally came in during the seventh and pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three.
No Dominquez
The Sox haven’t had access to reliever Seranthony Dominguez, who is playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. He made only two Cactus League appearances and none since Feb. 27 before he left.
Venable has stipulated all spring Dominguez is going to be the team’s closer, which should be interesting.
Dominguez signed a two-year deal as a free-agent during the offseason guaranteeing him $20 million. At $10 million for this year, he’s the team’s third highest paid player. So, as long as he remains healthy he has the closing job. He doesn’t have a recent history of closing games, though. Well, of course he doesn’t. Last season he saved four games for Baltimore and Toronto in 67 appearances. He has 40 in his seven-year career, 16 of them for the Phillies in his 2018 rookie season.
Still, the presence of Dominguez has set up an interesting dynamic in camp, reliever Grant Taylor said.
“I think it’s awesome. It brings some friendly competition between each other,” Taylor said. “There’s always discussion after an outing about what guys did well. It brings some healthy competition, and it frees you up to perform because you have some really, really good guys behind you.”
Sox 5, Royals 4
Jarred Kelenic challenged a called third strike on a 2-and-2 count and had it reversed with two out in the first inning. On the next pitch from Royals starter Noah Cameron, he drilled a 438-foot homer to right field, his second of the spring and second in as many starts. He whiffed looking for the second out of the third. No challenge. He added a single that was misplayed off the right field wall during a three-run White Sox fifth.
• Colson Montgomery also hit a two-run homer, contributing to the scoring in the bottom of the fifth.
• Luisangel Acuna was in the lineup again, this time at short. He went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, bringing his spring numbers to a .412 batting average (7-for-17) and a 1.121 OPS. He played second base on Saturday. Sox manager Will Venable said his players should prepare to play multiple positions. “We’re going to be moving guys all over the place,” he said. Acuna can also play center field, his preferred position.
• On deck: Rockies at Sox, 3:05 p.m. Monday, Glendale, Kyle Freeland vs. Jedixson Paez.