After throwing the 21st perfect game in major league history, the Chicago White Sox’s Philip Humber was anything but flawless during his most recent turn in the rotation.
He could have a hard time getting back on track against a Cleveland Indians club set to receive a boost.
Johnny Damon is expected to make his season debut and Shin-Soo Choo could return from injury Wednesday night as Cleveland and Chicago continue a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field.
The 38-year-old Damon, who signed a minor league deal April 17, spent the last couple of weeks getting in game shape at the club’s facility in Arizona. The Indians (11-10) made room for him Tuesday by designating infielder Jose Lopez for assignment.
Entering his 18th major league season, Damon hit .261 with 16 homers, 73 RBIs and 19 stolen bases while with Tampa Bay in 2011. He ranks third among active players with 1,643 runs scored and fourth with 516 doubles.
“He’s going to make our team better,” manager Manny Acta said. “He had a pretty solid season last year. He’s been there and done that. He’s got instant credibility with these guys and he’s an outstanding teammate who’s going to help all these younger guys here. We’re excited to add him to the mix.”
Choo, meanwhile, is expected to rejoin the lineup after sitting out the previous six games with a left hamstring injury. He is batting .237 with no homers in 15 games.
Damon and Choo could make things difficult on Humber (1-1, 4.66 ERA), who five days after not allowing a walk or a hit during a 4-0 win at Seattle, was tagged for a career-worst nine runs over five innings of Thursday’s 10-3 loss to Boston.
“This game will humble you, man,” Humber said. “It will make you feel good one day and make you feel real bad the next. You’ve got to take every game as its own game … It was just a bad day. I’ll just chalk it up to one of those days and hopefully next time will be better.”
The right-hander went 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA over two September starts against the Indians, who are hitting .339 against him.
Chicago (12-11) took Tuesday’s series opener 7-2 behind Chris Sale’s six strong innings. He helped hold Michael Brantley, Jason Donald, Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner – Cleveland’s 1-2-3-4-5 hitters – hitless in a combined 20 at-bats.
Gordon Beckham, meanwhile, broke out of an 0-for-10 slump with a three-hit effort – including his first homer of the season. The second baseman raised his average 37 points to .190.
“(Beckham) swung well, it’s part of believing in yourself and keep working at it,” manager Robin Ventura said. “He hasn’t gone down that path of not believing in himself.”
Beckham now looks for his momentum to carry over against Josh Tomlin (1-2, 5.48). Aside from throwing eight innings of one-run ball during a 2-1 win at Seattle on April 19, the right-hander has compiled an 8.10 ERA over his other three outings.
Tomlin was roughed up again his last time out, allowing four runs over 4 2-3 innings of Thursday’s 4-2 loss to Kansas City.
“The consistency is not there, for sure, this year,” he told MLB.com. “You can’t go out there and go eight innings and then go four innings or vice versa. You want to stay as consistent as you can for as long as you can.”
In his only career appearance in this series, Tomlin gave up four runs, seven hits and struck out seven over five innings of a 4-2 loss in his season debut April 9.
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