Luis Castillo made his first start for the White Sox on Thursday, taking the ball against the Red Sox just after Chicago picked him up from the Mariners at the trade deadline. For Castillo, it was another uniform, another dugout and another quick adjustment, but not a new feeling. “This is the sixth time that I’ve been traded, so nothing new for me,” he said.
The timing mattered because the White Sox needed a starter against a Red Sox club that arrived with a seven-game winning streak and a lineup that had homered in nine straight games. Castillo also said, “Different team, different jersey, but the same energy,” and added that he saw a group that “liked to fight, liked to compete.” That was the hope behind the move: a rotation boost on a day when the Red Sox had already built momentum with a 4-0 win on Wednesday, when Wilyer Abreu reached 20 homers and the White Sox were shut out for the eighth time this season.
Chicago’s lineup behind Castillo put Meidroth at second base, Murakami at first, Miguel Vargas at third, Randal Grichuk at designated hitter, C. Montgomery at shortstop, Joey Bart at catcher, Doyle in center, B. Montgomery in right and Luisangel Acuña in left. The Red Sox answered with Sogard at first, Ceddanne Rafaela in center, Wilyer Abreu in right, Caleb Durbin at third, Masataka Yoshida at designated hitter, Andruw Monasterio at shortstop, Jarren Duran in left, Anthony Seigler at second and Connor Wong at catcher.
Castillo entered the White Sox game with a 3-9 record and a 5.06 ERA, a line that framed the assignment as much as the trade-deadline move did. He had been 2-3 with a 5.34 ERA in six career appearances against the Red Sox, which left Chicago asking a new pitcher to solve a familiar problem right away. The White Sox had lost seven of their past 12 games, and the burden of the start was simple: make the deadline addition count now, not later.
That is why Castillo’s first outing for Chicago carried more weight than a routine debut. He was not just filling a turn in the rotation; he was being asked to steady a team that had been searching for answers while a surging Red Sox club kept forcing the pace. Castillo said the White Sox were “a bunch of kids” who were hungry to win. Thursday was the first chance to see whether that energy, and his arm, could change the direction of the night.
