The White Sox and Cincinnati Reds will play a doubleheader on Saturday after Friday’s game was rained out.
The teams are set to begin their doubleheader at 3:10 p.m. CST on Saturday with the regularly scheduled 6:10 p.m. game to follow.
The White Sox have already had four games postponed this season.
The team has a split doubleheader scheduled for July 17 to makeup an April 25 rainout against the Kansas City Royals. The White Sox also return to Baltimore on May 28 for a one-day doubleheader after citywide civil unrest resulted in the cancellation of games from April 27-28.
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And that doesn’t count the suspension of the team’s April 24 contest against the Royals, which was completed on April 26.
Combined with scheduled days off, the White Sox have not played eight times since the season started on April 6.
With so much rest, White Sox manager Robin Ventura hasn’t had to sit his starters often, which has led to less playing time for some of the team’s role players. Emilio Bonifacio has 18 plate appearances through the team’s first 25 games and even though J.B. Shuck made three straight starts in Minneapolis, he only has 21 plate appearances.
“Those guys are probably hurt by the way our schedule has been, as much as anything because we really haven’t had that consistent stretch of playing games where you maybe need to give a guy a breather, get a guy in there,” Ventura said. “Shuck got a few games in there when Eaton was gone in Minnesota, but the games that were cancelled the rainouts and things like that, it’s been tough. …
“You’re trying to figure out a way to get some guys in there and get some at-bats and win the game at the same time.”
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This is already the fourth time this season Hector Noesi has had a start disrupted. He was scheduled to start on April 25 and had his turn pushed back to April 27. When that game was cancelled, Noesi’s turn was skipped. The White Sox also opted to skip Noesi’s turn during the second week of the season because they had scheduled offdays on April 13 and April 16.
Noesi won’t be skipped this time around, however. Ventura said Friday he would start during Saturday’s doubleheader no matter what.
Johnny Cueto starts for Cincinnati in the first game against Noesi while Carlos Rodon makes his first major league start in the nightcap against Jason Marquis.