White Sox's Jonathan Cannon: Stuck with loss in piggyback role

Cannon (1-3) took the loss Friday as the White Sox were downed 4-1 by the Pirates, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks over six relief innings. He struck out four.

Starter Garrett Crochet was on a strict pitch count and got the hook after two perfect innings, but Cannon was able to save the rest of the bullpen by tossing 92 pitches (57 strikes). Manager Pedro Grifol has indicated that Crochet's workload is going to be monitored the rest of the way, or at least for as long as the southpaw is with the White Sox, and with Mike Clevinger (elbow) close to coming off the IL, Cannon could remain the first option to work in tandem with Crochet in a piggyback role. Through 51 innings in the majors this season, the rookie right-hander has a 4.41 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 39:13 K:BB.